I Need To Leave This Town
by ForAllMankind
Summary: Four years after receiving his bachelors degree from Harvard, Jimmy Neutron has been suffering from post-grad depression. But seeing some old friends might give him the push he needs. Rated T for thematic material, references to suggestive content, language, and some intense action. Russian translation by Augoror titled Нужно покинуть этот город can be found by Google search.
1. Chapter 1-Just another day at the office

In a small laboratory in Retroville, scientist Carvey Avid is showing the facilities to a potential investor. They observe Carvey's interns working on an experiment.

Jimmy Neutron, one of the interns, takes a piece of cheese and places it inside a mouse's cage.

"Come on, Jerry. Time to come out." A mouse pops it's nose from the miniature barn in the cage.

Allen, one of the interns, comes up behind Jimmy with a needle.

"The serum's ready." Allen announces.

Jimmy quietly responds "Just give him a second."

Jerry the mouse leaves his barn and nibbles at the piece of cheese. Jimmy gently grabs a hold of Jerry. He carefully handles the mouse to keep it still.

"Alright, you ready Neutron?"

"This is such a bad idea."

"Come on, we're done talking about this. We have a potential investor here right now-"

"OKAY, you're right. Forget I said it. Just be careful with that needle." Jimmy extends his hand to prepare Jerry the mouse for his injection.

In the next room Carvey and potential investor Donald Strych (Eustace's uncle) are observing through the glass window.

Carvey, trying to sound smart, explains the experiment to Donald. "What we do is we take glial cells from human fetuses and we inject them into the mouses brain. The mouse has 12 million glial cells of its own. Right now we're only injecting 300,000 human glial cells so it has a small fraction of human intelligence but is still a mouse in mind."

"Naturally." Donald responds as though he knew what he was talking about even though has no clue what Carvey is saying. "Why mice though? Wouldn't it be easier if you did this to monkeys?"

"Well we briefly considered it but we decided not to because of all the potential ethical issues."

"What ethical issues?"

"Well… You know animal rights groups are more sensitive to stuff like that… and it's not worth that trouble… and we also don't want to be associated with that _Planet of the Apes _movie."

"That can't happen, can it?"

"Oh no, that's only a movie. But my idea is if we can make these animals smarter and more productive they'll be much more efficient in ways that machines can't be. People have always been able to train animals, but if we can get them to do more for us… well, just imagine the possibilities. There can be a great need for this."

"But won't people see it as slavery with animals?"

"No, not at all. We might get accused of that but that shouldn't be a problem. As long as there are people in this world that continue to own pets, there's no reason corporations can't have their own. Just tell that to the media, they'll have a hard time justifying it."

Allen injects the serum into the mouse in the most painless way. Once done, Jimmy puts Jerry back in his cage. He takes another piece of cheese from the table. "Here you go buddy, you've earned it."

Donald looks at the experiment fascinated. "Interesting. I'll tell you what, I'll invest you for the next 6 months for $1.5million and we'll see where this goes."

Carvey tries to conceal his expression of joy. "Perfect. Why don't we talk more in my office. I have to talk to these guys for a second."

Donald nods back to Carvey and exits the room. Carvey walks over to the other door and enters the lab.

"Great job guys! You get to keep your jobs for the next 6 months!"

"Yes!" Allen cheers with a happy smile just as big as Carvey's. Jimmy's has a small grin as he's more focused on making sure Jerry's okay.

"Does this mean we're getting more hours?" Jimmy asked.

Carvey's smile fades. "Well… You know I'll let you know more next week. For the next three days I'll hold down the fort on my own. You guys are doing a great job though. Allen, you're doing a great handling the equipment. Jimmy, don't forget to lock the cage. I don't want Jerry to run out again."

There was a previous incident where Jimmy had left Jerry's cage open, only for 5 seconds as he walked across the room to pick up his tablet to take notes. In those 5 seconds, Carvey had walked in with a bunch of plastic tubes and somehow he managed to drop one of the tubes on the floor. And as he stepped on that tube he suddenly lost his balance and fell forward knocking Jerry's cage to the ground and let him run free. Carvey blamed the incident on Jimmy, despite the fact that Jimmy was quickly able to recover Jerry by calling him back through his distinctive, unimpressive whistle call that somehow got the attention of the mouse.

But that's hardly the first time Jimmy has had to deal with Carvey's crap. Carvey was nice to Jimmy while he was interning with no pay. It wasn't until Carvey had to pay him that he started giving Jimmy a hard time for no reason. Carvey was a wannabe scientist who had no knowledge and just wanted fame. Financially he depends on a trust fund from his parents which is how he opened this lab. And despite having access to large amounts of money, Carvey has been ripping Jimmy off every check. Jimmy would calculate his own hours and know that he'd be missing $20-30 every check. He addressed the issue before but no matter how many times Jimmy proved it to his boss using basic math Carvey would always deny it and show him the "correct" way to calculate the amound for his check. He was quite miserable at his job, if you even want to call it that considering he only worked 1 or 2 days a week for 4-6 hour shifts. He absolutely hated it, but at least it was something to do.

"It'll be locked." Jimmy replied to Carvey.

"And make sure everything is put back in it's proper place. We can't have investors coming in and seeing a mess." Carvey takes two envelopes out of his jacket. "Here are your checks, guys." Allen and Jimmy grab their checks. "I'll see you guys Monday. Have a good weekend." Carvey walks out of the lab.

Allen waves goodbye. "Bye boss. Have a good one."

Jimmy mutters under his breathe. "Kissass."


	2. Chapter 2-Same Night Every Night

Jimmy continued to get around in his hover car. It wasn't until he went to Harvard that he changed the exterior to resemble a Hummer in order to impress the other college students. Jimmy skipped high school, going directly to Harvard after junior high. Having a car that didn't look like an inflatable boat improved his social status. Whenever a cute girl in his dorm building needed a ride in the Boston area, Neutron was the first guy they'd go to. That hover car had gone through a lot. It had taken his childhood friends on many adventures and it had taken his college acquaintances on the most epic drunk adventures that any college student could've ever possibly had. While there were some nights where Jimmy had fun he never had any close friendships with anyone at Harvard. Most of them used him for his car to get to places far away. He was never able to date anyone because no one would risk dating a minor. He was singled out as the weird guy that was too into science and incapable of being social. Even though he enjoyed his studies at school, emotionally he was a wreck. Harvard was supposed to be the best experience of his life, but it was the loneliest Jimmy had ever felt.

It's been three and a half years since Jimmy graduated from Harvard. When he came back to Retroville everyone he knew was about to leave for college, the only exception being Sheen. It was his last summer seeing any of the kids he grew up with. But he never got the chance to see Cindy because she left the day after high school graduation to take summer classes at Stanford. With only the memory of their childhood rivalry this didn't really bother him at the time. Carl went away to school in Iowa and was getting closer to his dream of working with animals, especially llamas. His parents always went to visit him during school breaks and holidays that he never had a reason to come back to Retroville. Sheen was forced to drop out of high school just before the final semester. Life took an even worse turn for Sheen when his dad was arrested for being discovered with a laptop filled with child pornography. With his dad in prison, Sheen had nowhere to go. His Grandma had passed away three years earlier. His mom ignored the existence of him and his father. Only his uncle Miguel was able to help by giving Sheen some money every month between the range of $100-300 depending on how much he felt like sending. Although his uncle has continued to do it all these years it wasn't enough for Sheen to support himself. He had to drop out of school and became a full time dishwasher at The Candy Bar to cover his living expenses. Because he dropped out his relationship with Libby slowly faded away until they peacefully broke up when she went away to college.

Right now it's 11:30 at night. Sheen sits on the curb playing an Ultralord game on his iPhone as he smokes a cigarette. He used to be incredibly fit back in the day as the star quarterback of Retroville high. But since high school he's really let himself go. He had gained so much weight he was practically obese. He never properly trims his beard. Physically, he was a mess.

Jimmy pulls up the hover car to the curb. Sheen slowly get up and approaches the car. As he opens the door, Jimmy stops Sheen from getting in. "Dude, seriously! Please put that out for the millionth time. I'm tired of my car reeking of cigarettes."

"My bad, dude." Sheen says without worry.

Jimmy sighed. "Jeez, I figured you'd get it by now."

Sheen takes one last drag from the cigarette before he throws it on the ground and gets in the car. Jimmy drives off.

"Do you have that $10 for the ticket?" Sheen asked.

"I'll cash my check tomorrow. You'll get it then."

"Cool. This Ultralord movie is gonna be the best one."

"Hopefully it'll be cool. But they'll never top the original."

"Whatever, we'll find out Wednesday. Can't wait to be in line for that midnight showing. Oh, by the way are you working that day?"

"I don't know yet. I work Monday though."

"You know what, don't worry about it. Carl can wait with me. What time you picking him up?"

"First thing tomorrow morning."

"Awesome man. It's been too long since the three amigops have gotten together." Jimmy smiled a little thinking back on when Carl came up with that name. Sheen became overwhelmed by nostalgia. "Man, I really miss the old days. We should go on another adventure when Carl's here."

"Dude, please don't get all nostalgic on me."

"Dude, we have two weeks to do it while he's on winter break. I can get a day off from work. And you're pretty much never working-"

Jimmy interrupted. "I have a job. I work."

"When you work more than a day a week and you make more money than me then I will _acknowledge _that you have a job." Sheen said _acknowledge _as though it were a big word for him to use. "Seriously dude, why don't you just quit. You can easily get a job at NASA or just start your own company. You gotta look for a job-"

Jimmy interrupted again. "I have been looking." That was a lie. "You know, it's tough. Not everyone's getting jobs right out of college."

"You're one of the youngest people ever to graduate from college. Hell, I think you're the youngest guy to graduate from Harvard."

"Whatever."

"You know, we go through this every time. You're always complaining about how you hate work and you should get a better job or you talk about how you want to start building inventions again but you don't for some reason. Seriously dude, stop complaining."

"You're one to talk. You keep talking about how you want to start going to school or how you have to break up with your girlfriend and move out but you don't."

"Once again, I can't afford to start school because I don't have the money for it. I can't get financial aid because I have to have a GED in order to qualify and I don't have that because I didn't graduate from Retroville high. And yeah, I'm in a shitty relationship but it's best if I stay because it's easier on me financially if we both pay rent."

Sheen's iPhone started ringing with the ringtone of the musical theme of the wicked witch from "The Wizard of Oz." It was his girlfriend Alicia. Sheen unhappily answers the phone. "Hey… Yeah, I'm on my way back right now… I don't know, I can ask him." Sheen looks to Jimmy. "Tell her I said 'yes'" Jimmy responded. Sheen got back on the phone. "Yeah, he's cool with it. Do you want burgers or tacos?… Alright, I'll see you in a bit." Sheen hangs up.

Jimmy always drove Sheen back from work and almost every night it was the same. They would casually talk about whatever music, video games, and TV shows were popular with "Ultralord" being a common subject. They'd talk about work, Sheen's relationship and basic life problems. They'd talk about the things they'd want to do and then they'd always criticize the other for not doing what they want. After that, Sheen would pick up some food at a 24 hour drive thru for him and Alicia. It was always the same. They were both tired of it but they were both too lazy to do anything about it.

After getting food, Jimmy dropped off Sheen at his apartment and they parted ways for the night. Jimmy drove back home listening to music like he always did, at this moment listening to "Asleep" from The Smiths. When he got home he pulled up in his driveway. He made a quick glance across the street where he saw Sasha Vortex and someone else unpacking their car this late at night. It was too dark to see who the other person with her was. 'Maybe Cindy's mom went on a trip with her new boyfriend or something' he thought. He got out of the hover car and went inside.

Jimmy entered his house and went straight upstairs. He walked past his mother's bedroom where the light on Goddard's forehead dimly lit the rest of the room. For years Goddard has slept comfortably at the foot of Judy's bed.

Jimmy entered his bedroom. The lights stayed off. He went to his computer and browsed through email and facebook. After seeing nothing worth his time he closed his laptop. Across the street he noticed a light suddenly turned off. He wasn't paying attention to where in the house the light came from but it just got his attention. Could've been Cindy's bedroom, he thought. he didn't really care to think about it much more than that.

Jimmy got up from his desk, dove forward and passed out the moment he landed on his bed.


	3. Chapter 3-What Mom Wants

At 7 in the morning, Judy Neutron sat in the kitchen wearing hospital scrubs while she was reading the newspaper. Goddard poured a cup of coffee for her, extended his head towards the table with coffee in mouth and set it on the table. "Thank you, Goddard" Judy said with a smile.

Her marriage with Hugh fell apart about 3 years after Jimmy had left for Harvard. It turned out that the frequent "business trips" were anything but. Judy became suspicious and followed him to Florida. That's when it ended badly. She caught Hugh having unusual sexual acts with another woman. They were both wearing duck costumes doing… well, where do you even begin to describe it. Let's just say for Judy it was traumatic. They managed to end it peacefully though and agreed not to ever tell Jimmy what really happened. Since Judy needed to make money to keep the house she became a nurse at Retroville General Hospital. For a single mother who was still supporting her 22 year old son she wasn't doing bad at all.

Jimmy came down the stairs with bed head wearing an old, worn out white t-shirt with a faded Atom symbol and pajama bottoms. Over the years his head grew proportionate with his body. His hair was now cut in a normal style.

"Morning" Jimmy said to Judy with a yawn.

"Good morning" Judy responded back. "Why are you up so early?"

"I gotta pick up Carl from the airport."

"Oh." Judy reacted. Jimmy grabbed a cereal bowl and a box of Cheerios. Goddard poured milk into his bowl for him. "Thanks boy." With breakfast in his hand, he took a seat at the table.

"How late are you working?" Jimmy asked Judy.

"I have a double tonight so I'll be home late. There are leftovers in the fridge."

"That's okay. I'll probably just eat out with guys and catch up."

Judy quickly changed the topic of conversation. "Have you thought about looking for a job?" she asked with that mom-type grin knowing he should be looking but wasn't.

"I have a job."

"Only for 1 day a week."

Jimmy smiles a little bit to make it seem like everything's okay. "Hey, it's a job."

Judy gives him a look that says give-me-a-break. "Well you need to make more money. You have to move out you know."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm working on it."

"Well work on it harder. I'm sure if you ask Goddard he can find something online for you to apply."

Goddard reacts eagerly. Jimmy looks back to Goddard. "I'm fine, boy. I can do it myself."

"Well there's no reason for him not to. You can't mope around the house for the rest of your life you know. You have to do something."

"I will mom" Jimmy responded tired of hearing his mom talk about this all the time.

Judy sighs. "God, what am I going to do with you? My son who has managed to build wondrous things and discover alien civilizations in other galaxies should be making history by now. At the very least you should have a real job."

Jimmy gives her a goofy smile. "I love you mom."

"Yeah, sure" Judy responded apathetically. Almost every day they'd have this same conversation. She was getting tired of seeing her son not do anything with himself. She finished her coffee and got up. "Well I've gotta go. Have a good day with your friends, honey."

"Bye mom."

On her way out, Judy pets Goddard and scratches his metallic muzzle. Goddard reacts playfully. "Good boy. You watch the house while I'm gone." Goddard smiles and nods back to her. Judy leaves the kitchen. "Bye!" Judy said on her way out the front door. "Look for a job!" she added.

After hearing the front door shut, Jimmy went right back to eating his breakfast. Goddard looked away from the front door and towards his creator, sitting there eating his cereal. He stood there for a few seconds just thinking as he looked at Jimmy. Goddard lifted his front right paw about to take a step towards Jimmy but then he stopped. He stood still thinking for a moment but Goddard ultimately put his foot down and just left them room.

By no means were things bad between Jimmy and Goddard. Goddard had always been Jimmy's loyal companion. But they were no longer as close as they used to be. Jimmy had left Goddard behind when he went to Harvard so he could be more useful helping out his parents. In his time at Harvard Jimmy never came back home, keeping himself busy taking extra classes during the summer and winter. Goddard had become closer to Judy. When she and Hugh divorced it was Goddard who was there to comfort her. When Jimmy came back from Harvard he and Goddard were both very happy to be reunited. But something changed. Jimmy changed. He seemed out of it on a daily basis. His passion for science was not what it used to be. While Goddard did everything he could to try to motivate him, Jimmy just wasn't receptive to any of it. Over time Jimmy seemed to get worse. By no means was he ever suicidal, just very down. Every once in a while Jimmy would take Goddard for a walk. Sometimes they'd have fun and Jimmy would confide details of his life or thoughts that he was having on whatever was going on. But it wasn't the same as before. Jimmy and Goddard still regarded each other as friends, but they acted more like acquaintances living under the same roof.


	4. Chapter 4-Picking Up Carl

Dallas international airport was just an hour away and also the closest airport to Retroville. There was no traffic on the way. Although the hover car can fly and accelerate at much faster speeds than a normal automobile, Jimmy hardly took it out to fly anymore. He pretty much forgot that it could. But he enjoyed the length of the drive. It helped him relax.

At the airport Jimmy was waiting outside baggage claim when Carl walked out the gate and headed towards his childhood best friend. Carl was quite tall, about 6 foot 5 inches. Working outdoors with animals had caused him to do some heavy lifting resulting in him becoming more fit. Asthma was still a problem though. He was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. He had a beard and wore a cowboy hat. Carl still wore the same glasses but he pretty much looked like a farmer.

Carl continued walking up to Jimmy with a big smile, happy to see him. Jimmy extended his hand for the usual hand slap followed by a quick fist bump. Carl rejected it. "Get that away. Come here man." Carl came in for a man hug, catching Jimmy off guard for a bit. "Man, it's been too long." Carl broke the hug. "It's great to see you, Jim. How have you been, man?"

Jimmy had a more restrained smile but he was happy to see his old friend. "Not bad. I'm doing okay."

"Well we got two weeks to talk about it. Let's go."

It was a very busy morning at the airport. Cars were backed up on the way out. "Damn, this is gonna take a while" said Carl, frustrated at the sight of cars that ahead. "Whatever happened to the hover car?"

"We're in it."

"What? Well then why don't you fly out of here?"

The question caught Jimmy off guard. He wasn't sure how to answer it. There was no way of justifying it. "I don't know, Carl. It's been a long time since I've been up flying." He said lacking confidence.

"Are you kidding? Retroville is an hour away. We fly now we can be there in 5 minutes."

"Who are you and what have you done with Carl Wheezer?" Jimmy jokingly responded. "The Carl I knew was always uncomfortable flying and would barf most of the time."

"I just flew by plane and I still hate flying. I barfed a couple times. I still can't help it. But what about Mr. Science who's all about technological advancement. You sure you're Jimmy? The Jimmy I knew would've flown us out of here."

"Touche."

"Hey, I don't mind flying if it gets us back faster. Unless you're not comfortable."

"No, no problem not at all." Jimmy was silent for a second. Carl looked back at him and gestured to start moving. "There are barf bags in the glove box if you need them."

"I'll be fine. I puked enough on the plane."

With the push of a button the engine suddenly began to hum a little louder. Jimmy unlatched the locked position the steering wheel in order to pull it back and forth. "Hold on to your seat belt." The engines hum stopped building up and remained steady. It was ready for takeoff. The car slowly began to float up into the air. It got the attention of everybody still stuck in traffic. The hover car kept rising and rising until it was above the top of the highest building at the airport. Carl hesitated to look down. He held a tight grip onto the seat. They were clear to fly.

"You okay?" Jimmy asked with a smile.

"Somehow an airplane being much bigger makes it more comforting than this."

"Hey, you asked for it-"

"I know, I know. Just go."

Jimmy floored it forward, going at top speed. It was a bit rocky as they continued to gain altitude. Carl kept breathing slowly to keep himself calm. Once they were high enough the ride smoothed out and Carl calmed down.

"You okay?" Jimmy asked. "You need a bag?"

"No, I'm okay." Carl looked down at the ground taking in the view. "Wow, it's beautiful."

"No good views from the plane?"

"They put me in an aisle seat. You know it's a lot smoother in here than the plane actually. At least I don't have the TSA giving me a hard time."

"What?" Jimmy asked concerned. "Did they stop you?"

"They pulled me aside for 10 minutes and asked me questions about why I was going to Retroville. I told them and then they let me get on the plane after asking the same question 50 times."

"Did they…" Carl looked at Jimmy seeing the look on his face.

"No! No, they didn't do that. I was never in a room, they just asked me questions to the gate. I guess the beard looks suspicious. I hope I don't get stopped again flying back."

"I can give you a ride. It's only about 45 minutes flying from home. And you save money on a plane ticket."

"Yeah, that'd be great. I'd really appreciate that."

"I should've thought to offer a ride last week."

"My parents paid for the plane ticket anyway before I told you I was coming back."

There was silence for a moment. Jimmy broke it by asking the first question. "So what've you been up to. You still with Elke?"

"Yeah. She's back in Sweden right now spending Christmas with her parents. Actually we both just got job offers as animal attendant's at the same zoo."

"You going to take it?" Jimmy asked.

"We already did. They're willing to work around our schedules for the last semester but it's a good start for me and for her."

"Dude that's great. I'm impressed you two managed to stick together this long."

"Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell anyone?"

"Sure, absolutely."

Carl had a big smile on his face before he answered. "I think I'm going to ask her to marry me."

"For real!?"

"It's been long enough. I think I'm ready to ask. It's killing me to wait this long."

"What's with the hold up?"

"I figure it'd be a nice graduation present. That's how I want to propose."

"You do know Christmas is coming up, right?"

"No, it's too late. She's already back home with her parents. And I still have to find the ring. But I think I'm going to ask her. I just don't want to add pressure before school ends?"

"How would you put pressure on her?"

"I thought about it and with this new job and the final semester of classes I don't wedding preparations to get in the way of finishing school. Even if we decide to wait she'll still think about it. You know how excited she gets."

"Well congratulations Carl. I hope it works out."

"Thanks Jim." There was another long period of silence until Carl finally broke it. "So how about you? You with anyone?"

"In Retroville? It's not the ideal place to meet women Carl, you know that. Everyone we knew left before I had the chance to do anything."

Carl looked at him in sympathy. "Yeah, I'm sorry Harvard didn't work out for you."

"It worked out fine. I graduated top of my class."

"You know what I mean."

Jimmy took a deep breathe. "Yeah I know."

"It's a shame you left when you did. Most of us thought you and Cindy Vortex had a chance."

The mention of Cindy brought thoughts back as though it were some distant memory. "Vortex? Are you kidding? We were always at each others throats."

"Yeah, but you two were becoming nicer to each other."

"Well I guess we'll never know will we. That's in the past now, there's no point in digging for it."

There was another 10 seconds of silence till Carl asked "Have you even heard from her lately?"

"I haven't talked to her in 8 years. I don't think she's posted on Facebook in years."

Silence again. Carl looked around the car as though something were missing. "Hey, Jim?"

"Yeah."

"Do you-" He struggled to ask his question. "Is Goddard still around?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just he's always with you. I was worried he might have died for a second."

"No, he's fine. He's back at the house."

"Good. That would've been terrible if he died."

"He's an artificial dog, Carl. If he blows up he can put himself back together. Goddard's going to live for a long, long time."

They began making their descent to Retroville. Unfortunately Carl had to use the barf bags as they made their way down. They landed on the street in their old neighborhood. Jimmy pulled up in his driveway.

"You spending the day at home?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, I've got some catching up to do with my parents. I'll see you and Sheen tonight."

"Okay, later Carl."

Carl took his backpack and suitcase and walked across the lawn to his old house next door. Jimmy heard the door open followed by the sound of Carl's mom shrieking with excitement due to her sons return. Jimmy entered his house to see Goddard sitting on the couch streaming an episode of "Courage the Cowardly Dog" on Netflix. Having nothing better to do, Jimmy went to take a seat next to him. Goddard made some room for Jimmy to take a seat.


	5. Chapter 5-Three Amigops Reunited

Being that he barely worked more than a couple days a week, Jimmy had a lot of free time. If Goddard hadn't done all the work around the house he would take it upon himself to do the dishes, vacuum the floor, take the garbage out, anything to keep himself occupied. He learned how to cook in order to keep himself active. He actually wasn't that bad at it. But for the most part Jimmy spent his days at the house incredibly bored. He'd watch movies, TV shows, or science specials. He'd play games on XBOX or just surf the web for the latest news related to science. Sometimes he'd even take to discussions on message boards and share his own theories. But even then that wasn't enough to keep himself active throughout the day. He always felt restless and every afternoon he'd end up taking a long 2-3 hour nap. He knew oversleeping wasn't good for him but he just couldn't help it. He'd start to feel a bit happier when he was doing housework. Hell, even when he worked at Carvey's lab he was just happy to be doing something. But when it came to his free time he just had way too much and he wasn't putting it to any productive use like he knew he should.

By 6pm Jimmy had been sleeping for almost 4 hours. He woke up to his cell phone ringing. Sheen was the caller. "Hello."

"Hey, I just got off. I talked to Carl. You ready?"

Jimmy yawned and then answered. "I gotta take a shower."

"Okay, well he told me he'd head over to your place in a bit. I'm taking the bus back home right now to change out of these work cloths."

"Alright. Um, do you want to meet up by your place?"

"I was actually thinking we could stop at JT's Bar."

"You know Carl can't drink."

Sheen answered annoyed "Yeah, know he won't drink. But they have great burgers and he hasn't ever eaten there."

"Are you walking there?"

"I'll call you when I'm ready and if you're not on your way I'll just walk."

"Alright, I'll see you later."

"Later." Sheen hung up. Jimmy, lacking energy, got up with difficulty. He stretched his arms and walked over to his bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

About an hour later, Jimmy and Carl walked into JT's Bar. Like a regular Friday night the place was full. It was a typical bar with a couple of pool tables. Sheen saved a table and waved to them. He already ordered a pitcher of beer and some chicken tenders.

"CARL!" Sheen called out with a smile.

"Woah" Carl said to himself. Having not seen Sheen in a long time he was surprised by his new physical appearance.

Sheen walked across the room. "Wow, look at you man. You look good. You look like you've really been working out."

"Yeah" Carl said trying not to offend. "You also look different."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I got fat. No need to be awkward. Let's get it out of the way."

"Just… you look different, that's all. How've you been?" Carl asked.

"You know, working a lot. Getting by. Let's eat something. You want a beer?"

"I don't drink. I have some weed on me though."

"Woah, really? Since when did you become a hippie? You gonna start playing campfire songs on guitar too?"

"It actually relaxes me and I don't get a reaction to it."

"Nice! Let's go outside, I know a spot in the alley." Sheen turns to Jimmy. "Jimmy you wanna order this man a cowboy burger?" Sheen turns back to Carl. "It's the best burger here. You gotta try it. I'm buying."

"Yeah, sure."

"Great! Jimmy we'll be right back."

The two left Jimmy at the table. He ordered food for Carl and himself and drank a pint and a half before Sheen and Carl came back. They stayed and talked for a couple of hours. Jimmy was buzzed, Carl was high, and Sheen was completely cross-faded. Mostly it was Carl talking about how everything was going well for him. Every time Carl asked Sheen about how things were with him he would steer the conversation towards games or TV till it eventually went back to Carl talking about himself. Jimmy threw in a few remarks here in there but wasn't very active in the conversation.

"Anyway what about you, Jim?" Carl asked. "What new inventions have you worked on."

Before Jimmy could answer Sheen burst out into laughter. Carl was puzzled.

"This guy, man." Sheen drunkenly spewed his words out. "This freakin guy hasn't… he hasn't _built _anything since… I think since he first left town."

"What?" Carl looked back at Jimmy confused. "Why not?"

Jimmy was about to respond but Sheen cut him off. "And the lab hasn't been open in a long time. And he doesn't have a job. I don't know how to help this guy out. I mean it's crazy, right? No one thought he'd end up like this." Sheen puts his arm around Jimmy. "I'm worried about you bro. You're supposed to be the one person from our grade that made it big and you're not doing shit-"

"HEY!" Jimmy angrily shouted. He pushed Sheen away from him that he fell out of the chair.

Carl tried to calm things down. "HEY, take it easy."

Sheen slowly got back up still slurring his words a bit. "Just saying you can do better, Jimbo. But don't worry. The three amigops are to save you, pal." Sheen turned to Carl and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Remember that name buddy?"

Carl chuckled a little bit. Jimmy picked up his pint and took a gulp.

"So you don't have a job?" Carl asked.

"I do." Jimmy answered. Carl gave a puzzled glance to Sheen who had the grin of a drunk. "It's temporary. It's part time at an up and coming lab here in Retroville. The pay's low but for now it's something. Before I go somewhere else. It's a good start."

"How long have you been there?" Carl asked.

Jimmy was straightforward. "Three years."

"That doesn't really sound temporary."

Jimmy began to get agitated. "Hey, it's a good start for me-"

Carl tried to calm things down again "Alright, no problem. I believe you-"

Sheen interrupted. "And he's only working 10 hours a week for minimum wage."

Jimmy was clearly upset. Carl didn't bother asking more questions on the subject. Sheen left the table to go to the bathroom. Carl changed the subject. "You haven't worked on any new inventions?"

"Nope." Jimmy took another drink.

"That's too bad. I'm not sure what to do for winter break now."

"Why?" Jimmy asked.

Carl took a few seconds before responding. "I don't know. This might sound stupid but I guess I was just hoping you'd take us out on expeditions or have us help you with experiments like the old days. This just seemed like the last chance to do that. It's stupid though, I was just feeling nostalgic I guess."

Jimmy didn't know how to respond. It was quiet for about 30 seconds till Jimmy saw a free pool table. "Hey, you wanna play?" Jimmy asked pointing at the table.

"Yeah, Iet's do it." They both got up and went to play a game.

* * *

For the rest of the night Jimmy and Carl played pool while Sheen tried talking to girls at the bar (and making an ass out of himself). Jimmy and Carl had cut themselves off but Sheen continued drinking beer after beer.

After midnight Sheen paid the check and they left. They walked around town reminiscing. At every corner memories flooded back of how Jimmy almost destroyed the town. Eventually they ended up at the park by the lake. Sheen was about to pass out on the bench.

Carl was concerned "Oh no, come on Sheen. Stay awake."

"I got it covered." Jimmy pulled out his wallet. He took a ziplock bag filled with about 10 green pills. He placed one pill in Sheen's mouth and made sure he swallowed it before falling asleep. "He'll be fine in 5 minutes."

"What was that?" Carl asked.

"Sober-up pill. I made it in college. If you get too drunk at parties you can drive back home safely. It takes about 3-5 minutes to kick in. Best part, no hangover."

"Wow, so many people would kill to have that. You should be selling those."

"Tried it. The FDA wouldn't approve for ethical reasons."

"What?"

"They figured it would just make people drink more and the pill can't do anything to fix brain cells. That and it only helps the mind, not the body."

"That sucks." There was silence as the two spent some time looking around at the empty park. Carl broke the silence. "So what're you doing at this lab you work at? Anything interesting?"

Jimmy thought quickly before answering. Knowing Carl was an animal lover he didn't want to bother him with the details. He knew Carl would be upset to hear them. Even Jimmy was betraying his own morals by supporting the work. He knew he should quit but it was the only excuse he had to work.

"Just typical stuff, you know how it is." Jimmy answered. "You've seen the work I did back when we were kids."

"Yeah." Carl accepted. He figured the details would've bored him anyway so he didn't ask any more questions. "Things really changed." Jimmy turned to Carl noting the serious tone in his voice. "It's crazy seeing all this again and everything feels the same but it's different. I kind of miss it but also I'm really glad I left. It's really bittersweet, you know."

Jimmy was quiet for a bit. "Not really. When I was at Harvard all I could think about was coming back."

"But you got to go to college early. Harvard at 14, that's a big deal. It's what you wanted the whole time when you got accepted."

"It was. But I really missed everyone, you know. I missed you guys. But there I couldn't get along with anybody. Everyone saw me as this little kid and the only way they would hang out with me is if I gave them a ride."

"Come on, it wasn't that bad."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of going there. And it was kind of fun. But it just wasn't the same without you guys. Everyone at Harvard was having fun while I was still growing up. If I could go back I'd probably choose to stay here."

"You know you can do that, right? You built a time machine."

Jimmy's tone changes as he tried to lighten things up a bit. "No way. Things are going great for you in Iowa. I can't mess with the timeline and possibly ruin your life or anyone's life." Carl chuckled a little. "Anyway I destroyed it years ago."

There was a long silence between the two.

"Well, you know we're always here for you, Jim. You can even come up to Iowa. I can find you a job there. There's a lot of cool people you'd get to meet."

"If nothing happens I'll let you know." Jimmy lied.

They both turned around when they heard Sheen groan. "Ow, my leg." Sheen complained. Jimmy pushed a button on the keys for his hover car. They both helped Sheen sit up. Eventually he got up and began walking. Soon the hover car arrived and landed at the park. First Jimmy flew Sheen back home. They made plans to meet at JT's Bar for lunch. They said goodnight and and flew back home.

* * *

Jimmy had gone upstairs straight to his room and turned the lights on. As he went to take a seat in front of his laptop he saw that the room across the street had the lights on and the curtains were open. But most important, he saw a female figure facing the window covered in a towel. But the instant he sat down she had dropped the towel. She was looking in his direction and eye contact was immediately established. Jimmy put brought his head down on his desk right away. Even though he wasn't staring long enough to admire the body in its perfect form he had seen enough in a brief second for it to be embarrassing for both them. Not only that, he knew who it was to. "What the hell is she doing here?" After a while he looked up to see if it was safe. The curtains were closed, he was in the clear. Instead of going back to his laptop, Jimmy elected to leave it there and just call it a night. He continued to feel bad about what just happened as he drifted to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6-Jimmy Ponders

As great as it was seeing each other again, the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Like the first night they spent most of the time hanging out at JT's Bar. They mostly walked or drove around town. Carl and Sheen reminisced a lot while Jimmy hanged back looking at his phone the whole time. On Sunday afternoon Jimmy was so bored he lied about feeling sick and needed to go home and rest. He arrived back home to see Goddard cooking using the retractable hand he kept in stored in his body. With nothing to do, Jimmy instinctually went to the TV.

10 minutes later Goddard finished cooking and barked over to Jimmy who was still browsing through the Netflix catalogue, Jimmy slowly got up and walked over to the kitchen table. There was a plate with steak, green beans, pasta, and a can of Purple Flurp. "Thanks boy" Jimmy said as he took his seat and began to eat. Goddard quietly left the room and laid down next to the coffee table. Jimmy slowly went through each bite as he looked out the window in deep thought admiring the early sunset. It was still light out but the moon was visible in the sky. Jimmy's gaze was focused on it. He thought about what Bro-Bot might be up to. He thought about what else could be happening outside the solar system. What other galaxies were out there. Even though he knew of the Yokians, the Gorlocks, and many other species out there, he was thinking about everything that had yet to be discovered by the human race. Thinking about them got him to think about his childhood. He then looked down to the clubhouse and thought about how things were back then and how different everyone is now. He thought about Cindy, wondering if they would still act the same should their paths cross again. Who was he kidding? Given the events of the night before of course things wouldn't go well.

Jimmy took a bite and then looked over to Goddard. He thought about the time he first built him when he was 8. When he moved to Retroville he didn't have any friends so he decided to build himself one. Goddard turned out to be Jimmy's most successful invention and still is to this day. He thought about how Goddard was there for every adventure he had. He thought about how loyal Goddard had been to him, his family, and his friends. Jimmy looked over at Goddard quietly laying there. He began to feel guilty for not being appreciative enough for what Goddard had done for him and his mother over the past 4 years. Goddard cooking him dinner was something he was just used to having done for himself. He briefly had the thought that he shouldn't care. After all, Goddard was a robot and had to do what Jimmy said. But Jimmy couldn't find it in himself to think that way. Despite him being artificial he knew Goddard cared on some level.

"Hey Goddard!" Jimmy called out across the house. Goddard slowly lifted his head and turned it around. His torso stayed still. "Do you wanna go for a walk?" Goddard lifted his head up slightly. "Right now? I can finish eating this later." Goddard half excitedly jump up and walked over to the door. Jimmy put his plate in the fridge. Goddard waited by the door while Jimmy picked up his jacket from the closet. As he was putting it on the walked out the door.

* * *

Jimmy and Goddard were alone at the park. They sat on a bench with a beautiful view of the moon as the sun set on the other side. As he looked at the moon he thought about what he should do with his future. He knew he needed to do something. It wasn't like he was sulking on purpose all these years. He had tried many times to get funding from investors but every time something went haywire before he had a chance to make a demonstration. After Harvard he felt as though his name was blacklisted by the scientific community. He struggled to sell the designs of his old inventions. Eventually he figured no one would have use for any of them and gave up trying to profit from some of his old work. He tried coming up with new ideas but creatively he was dry. For someone so smart he felt like he was the worst scientist in the world. The gap between his successes and failures could circle the Earth a dozen times. He thought nothing of it when he was a kid, but by now he figured he would've gotten smarter and be less of a screw up.

Jimmy looked over to Goddard who was staring over that horizon. At the moment he extended his hand and pat him on the head. Caught off guard, Goddard looked back at Jimmy perplexed at first. Jimmy let the tiniest bit of a smile return to Goddard. Goddard didn't react. Jimmy then pulled his hand away, set it back on the bench, and looked back up. He wasn't sure why he was compelled to pet Goddard and a little disheartened by the lack of a reaction. He hadn't petted Goddard in years. It hurt Jimmy to think how much things had changed. He then felt a cold, wet metallic piece rub up against his hand. Jimmy instinctually pulled his hand away. It was Goddard licking him with his tongue. He looked up at Jimmy smiling with his tongue hanging out. Jimmy smiled back. He put his hand back down and Goddard rested his snout on it. It felt good being reminded that they were on good terms. Not that they never were. But over the years he did question it.

In the empty park, Jimmy heard the sound of footsteps approaching. It was pretty dark out now but he saw someone running in a black track suit with pink shoes. As the person got closer he noticed the long blonde hair. The runner came close enough that he instantly recognized that face. Suddenly eye contact was briefly made. Jimmy turned his head away and gazed straight up at the stars. He could hear the footsteps begin to move fast. Once they had passed him he looked back down and saw the runner speeding in the other direction. He knew who it was. She probably recognized him as well. They made brief eye contact, no mistake about it. Given that she didn't stop to say "hi" and the fact Jimmy heard her speed up to get away from him faster led him to conclude she definitely didn't want to see him. Friday night's incident definitely wasn't helpful. Jimmy turned to see Goddard giving him a smart-aleck look. He opened his chest for the monitor to turn on. Jimmy reached for it and shut it right away. "I don't want to hear it." Goddard whined a little. "Come on, let's go." Jimmy got up and the two made their way back home.

* * *

When he got home he heated the rest of his dinner and finished it. He spent the rest of the night playing GTAV on his PS3, not thinking at all about what happened over the weekend. Despite the small bit of comfort he had from Goddard, it was as though things went right back to the way they were before they went to the park.

At around 9:30pm Jimmy's phone began to vibrate. He paused the game and reached for his phone and saw he had a text message.

Carvey: _I need you all to come in early tomorrow. Can you make it by 7?_

Suddenly Allen joined in on the group text.

Allen: _Can't. I have class in the morning. I'll be there at 3._

Jimmy: _I'll be there._

Carvey: _Great. Set up the maze when you get here. Be careful with the equipment._

Jimmy silently mimicked that last part of the text in mockery. He turned off the game and went to bed early. He figured he had to if he was going to make it to work at 7.

Given the events of Friday night, Jimmy made sure to enter his room with the lights off this time. He didn't care if he saw her naked again. He just didn't want to be caught like a creep. Though he had to admit to himself he wouldn't mind getting a longer look… NO! Even then his morals wouldn't allow for that. He was going to close his blinds but when he saw her window he didn't had to. She had already taken precaution. All he could see was the light coming through her curtains. He put on his night shirt and pajama bottoms and fell asleep quickly.


	7. Chapter 7-First Trials

Jimmy walked out the front door with his lab coat hanging over his shoulder ready to go to work. On his way to his car Judy pulled up in the driveway and got out of her car.

"Morning" Jimmy said to his mother.

"Good morning." Judy said looking slightly perplexed. "Are you working right now?"

"Yeah. I got a full day."

"Well are they going to have you doing this often?" Judy said with a slight hopeful smile.

"I don't know. Maybe. Depends on if this experiment is successful. We'll see."

"Okay. Well I'm going to sleep. I have to be back at the hospital at 3. Can you remember to take the trash out tonight?

"Don't you normally have Goddard do that?" Jimmy asked.

"I do. But you're not doing anything and you need more work to do around the house."

"I already do stuff-" Judy gave him a disappointing "mom" look. Jimmy backed down. He figured it was a pointless argument to start. "Yeah, I'll take care of it." Judy smiled.

Jimmy got into his car. "Have a good day at work." Said Judy as Jimmy shut the door and drove off.

When he got to the lab it wasn't in the condition he left it in. Jimmy wasn't surprised at all. There was still equipment laying around scattered all over. Carvey was a cheap, hypocritical bastard. _"Make sure everything is put back in it's proper place. We can't have investors coming in and seeing a mess." _He thought back to that last thing he said to Jimmy when he was working. Jimmy had accepted long ago Carvey would always fuck with everything and blame him for his mistakes. He wasn't ever surprised but it would still get under his skin. Jimmy would have borderline violent fantasies of horrible things happening to him in an experiment gone wrong. He tried to stop thinking about them when they started. It wasn't just because it was likely unhealthy, but having all that hate stored up he thought was a waste of time.

Jimmy whistled his distinctive ear-scratching whistle to get Jerry to come out (he never understood why his whistling went away when he was younger). He picks up little blocks of cheese from the fridge and set one in the cage. He then set up Barnes's Maze to conduct the experiment. But as he went back to Jerry's cage he saw that Jerry had yet to eat the cheese left for him. Jimmy went up to the cage and whistled again. Still nothing. Jimmy started whistling a third time. Jerry popped his head out. After hesitating for a bit he started to limp out of the barn. Jimmy noticed right away that Jerry didn't look normal. It was almost as if he was sick or something.

Jimmy grabbed the log to see what happened over the weekend, but of course Carvey didn't write down a single observation. Jimmy's blood really started to boil. Carvey finally got funding for the most ambitious project he'd ever had and still didn't take it seriously. He tossed the notebook aside and went back to Jerry.

Jerry was eating the cheese like he normally would but something seemed different to Jimmy. His behavior was different. The mouse wasn't quickly chomping down every bite. Jerry was chewing slowly, arguably like a normal person would. He wasn't sure if this had something to do with how unhealthy he looked or if maybe it was part of human behavior from the cells injected into his brain. Jimmy made note of his observation in the notebook.

Jimmy waited about 20 minutes till Jerry was finished eating. He didn't even eat all the blocks of cheese Jimmy had set out for him. Once done, Jerry patiently sat down and looked up at the maze as though he were expecting to go in. Jimmy noted the behavior. Naturally changes were expected but it was jarring how different Jerry had become over the past 4 days. Now that he was ready, Jimmy reached into the cage about to gently grab the mouse when Jerry quickly backed a few mice-steps away. Jimmy retracted his hand slightly. This hadn't happened since they first had Jerry. Jerry would always run around out of control and they'd have to trap him in a corner just to catch him. But later Jimmy had proved to be more comforting to the mouse. He would usually wait to willingly be picked up. But now Jerry looked afraid and confused.

Jimmy slowly reached his hand again but Jerry back up and kept starring. Junny was very still. He couldn't decipher what emotions were expressed through the mouse but something in his behavior was different. Jerry just kept staring at him and his hand. Instead of just trapping him in a corner and grabbing him, Jimmy tried something different. He laid his hand on the ground of the cage, palm facing up. After a few seconds, Jerry began to slowly approach the hand, careful with each step. Jimmy didn't move a muscle. He stopped when he reached the hand. Jimmy remembered Jerry would always sniff his hand whenever he held him. In fact he would always sniff everything around him. But this time he didn't recall Jerry sniff once. Jerry just stared at Jimmy. It looked like Jerry was trying to emote something but it was difficult to tell. Suddenly Jerry slowly climbed up on the hand. He made his way to the center of the palm and took a seat. Jimmy was surprised to see this mouse patiently sitting on his hand. After about 15 seconds of nothing happening Jerry looked back to Jimmy. Something about his expression seemed that Jerry was getting impatient. Almost as if he knew what was about to happen and wanted to get it over with. At least that's how Jimmy interpreted it. Jimmy picked up the mouse gently. Jerry calmly sat there as he was being carried till Jimmy sat him down on the maze's platform. Jerry sat at the center and waited. Jimmy noted every observation he had in the notebook and then went back to the maze.

Barnes Maze is a memory experiment usually done on mice or rats. There are 20 black holes in the maze. 19 of them are just black circular holes that are colored in. Only 1 hole is the real way out. The goal is to find the way out. It usually takes 4 or 5 tries to find the way out. Jimmy turns on the light overhead and sets up the video camera to record the experiment. He took a seat in front of the maze and set his notebook down on the table.

As Jimmy watched, Jerry just looks at him. Jimmy had done this experiment many times before on Jerry. There was no doubt the strange behavior was a product of the glial cells but what Jimmy really wanted to know at this point were the thoughts happening in his head. He couldn't tell if Jerry had a look of confusion, anger, impatience, or if he was just braindead. He made a note of the observation. Jerry got tired of sitting there watching him write. He turned around and took causal steps over to his left. Jimmy stopped writing as he saw Jerry walking over to the edge. Jerry then reached what was the escape hole and jumped in. Jimmy noted the first try working out and how he walked over. He took Jerry out of the escape box and had him do it again. Again he just walked over, this time a little faster. The third time he just ran to it to get it done with. Jimmy noted the observation. He rotated the platform to put the escape box in a different place. Jerry still found it on the first try. And it went on again and again and again for about an hour and a half. No matter how many different variations there were Jerry always knew the way out.

Jimmy then brought out the traditional maze. Jerry made it to the other side in less than 5 minutes. He had hit many dead ends but never repeated any mistakes on his way through. The second time Jerry zipped through in less than 2 minutes, having memorized the route. The third time it was less than a minute. Jimmy noted the precision of how Jerry navigated through the maze. He then set up a variation of it. Once again the mouse memorized the route the first time and got faster and faster with each try.

It was now almost 3pm. Jerry had been exhausted. Jimmy stopped and rewarded him with cheese. He sat there quietly eating as Jimmy made notes and wrote down conclusions. Jerry sat there watching him write. After Jimmy was finished he closed the notebook. He looked back at Jerry who was still staring at him while quietly chewing his food. "God, you're probably the smartest mouse on the planet right now. Who knows if you'll ever be aware of that." Jimmy said out loud. Jerry sat up very slightly. It was really subtle but Jimmy was sure he had heard what he said. He really took pity on the mouse. He had no way of really understanding what Jerry was thinking. He wasn't even sure if Jerry understood him. But he knew that the injection was altering Jerry's mind. He figured that it must be freaking Jerry out. If he had to guess, just based on his behavior all day, he'd say Jerry was confused and scared despite excelling in every trial of the experiments conducted today.

Allen came in exactly at 3pm. "Hey, how's it going?" He said to Jimmy.

"Not bad." Jimmy said.

"How's he doing?"

"You're not going to believe it. The injection worked and his intelligence is evolving fast. Here." Jimmy handed Allen the notebook. Allen looked through it. "Every single trial he's broken a new record. It's all on tape."

Allen looked through the book and went to the earliest entries. "There's nothing here logged in for the weekend."

"Why do you think?" Jimmy asked rhetorically.

"That idiot. Is he even here?"

"I've been alone all day."

"Alright, well I'll take over. You've only done the maze?"

"Yeah, but he's tired. I'd let him rest. He's been running around all day."

Jimmy noticed Jerry bobbing his head back and forth looking to whoever was speaking during their conversation. Allen continued reading.

"Wow. I'll look at the footage and see if I can find any other observations. You work tomorrow?"

"He hasn't told me anything." Jimmy bitterly said

"Figures. Well I'll see you around."

Jimmy takes off his lab coat and throws it over his shoulder. "Later." He looks over at Jerry and waves goodbye. "I'll see you later Jerry." He starts to walk away when-

"WOAH! DUDE, LOOK!" Allen pointed to Jerry who was trying to wave back. Jimmy was in awe. "You think he's ready for communication tests?" Jerry jumps back into his barn after the mention of the word "tests."

"Why not? We know he's intelligent enough to get out of a maze. Maybe he can communicate back."

"This is insane. It's so cool. I'm gonna test the shit out of this."

Jimmy looks over to Allen skeptically. "I'd still let him rest after everything he's done today."

"Yeah, definitely. I got it covered Jimbo. I'll see you later."

"Okay." Jimmy said as he left the lab feeling uneasy.


	8. Chapter 8-Across the Street part 1

While driving back home Jimmy worried about Jerry. It wasn't that Allen was such a bad co-worker. He was at least competent enough to handle things when he wanted to be. But simply put, Jimmy didn't trust Allen. Allen was a hack in every sense. If Carvey told him to do something he would do it without thought. That was dangerous considering he was much more knowledgeable than Carvey when naming the elements of the periodic table. It did surprise him a little to hear Allen say Carvey was an idiot earlier, but regardless he didn't trust him. Allen didn't care about the experiment. He was just there for college credit and would do whatever he had to for good references.

Goddard was wiping the windows with his retractable hand as Jimmy pulled up in the driveway. Jimmy entered the house like normal, the two still behaving like acquaintances. It was the same routine as before. Jimmy went for the TV, browsed through Netflix, found nothing after 10 minutes, then went to the fridge for a bite to eat. He had some leftover pasta from the night before and threw it in the microwave.

As he waited he couldn't help but think about Jerry. The experiment was ethically wrong and he knew it. He knew that regardless of how much improvement Jerry displayed for the sake of scientific research, emotionally the effects it had on the mouse couldn't be good. That was his argument since the beginning. He even cited "Planet of the Apes" as an example because Carvey would at least understand a pop culture reference over scientific fact. That was when Carvey scrapped the idea of testing on chimps and went with mice in order to avoid similarities so there wouldn't be cause for protests. While many on the internet agreed it was a bad idea there wasn't much passionate protest. So worst case scenario, mice kill humans and take over the world. It was an absurd idea and Jimmy knew it was still science fiction after all. But after seeing Jerry look at him all day, whatever was going on in his head couldn't be good.

He tried to think of positives. Maybe this experiment could help with humanity interacting with animals. Still it was messing with nature, and Jimmy had messed with nature so many times as a kid that he was all too familiar with the consequences.

What he found himself most worried about was Jerry himself. What must it feel like to have your brain be tampered with, to have everything you know change? He concluded he must be afraid by what he saw at work. Having pity on him he tried to be as comforting as possible to the poor little mouse. He didn't know what the experiment would do to him. Knowing that he may be having human thoughts, the last thing he wanted to do was cause pain.

He then thought about how beaten Jerry looked. Fucking Carvey. The man was completely incompetent. It wasn't like he would intentionally hurt Jerry, but he surely had no empathy for the mouse. He just treated him as an object that would hopefully bring him fame. That frightened Jimmy as he might do something that inadvertently kills the mouse.

Jimmy continued to eat his pasta at the table. He eventually looked down when he felt Goddard licking his foot. Goddard had been there for a while and could see his creator was bothered by something. He opened up his monitor.

_Everything okay?_

Jimmy read the screen and looked back to Goddard's concerned face. He let a slight smile slide by to not worry him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a rough day." Jimmy reached out to Goddard's forehead and patted him. After accepting the pat, Goddard turned his back to Jimmy. A post-it note was stuck on him from his mom reminding him to take out the trash.

"Ugh. Can you do it, Goddard?" Goddard turned his head back to Jimmy with a stern frown. "Alright, alright. I got it." Goddard's face then went back to one of a happy dog. He licked Jimmy's hand. Jimmy laughed and gave him a friendly push. Goddard then ran out of the room to continue his housework.

Jimmy dragged the trash bins through the backyard approaching the front of the house. As he moved towards the curb he noticed a car driving down the street. It seemed like the car was starting to slow down. Jimmy was halfway through passing down his driveway when the car pulled up in the house across the street. He noticed the blonde girl in the drivers seat. Suddenly he started to pull a little slower and looked down as he heard the engine of the car shut off. He looked up slightly and saw that the person wasn't moving. Even though he couldn't clearly see it from the distance, he reached a point where he could kind of see the rear-view mirror in the car. With a quick glimpse he felt as though those green eyes were looking at him through that mirror. But as soon as he got a brief look, the head turned away. Jimmy made it past the driveway and was dragging the bins down the curb when the car door opened. A beautiful blonde in her early twenties stepped out wearing a professional looking business suit. She made very brief eye contact with Jimmy but he looked back down. He finally lined up the bins to the curb. When he turned around he saw the girl reaching for her purse in the car. As she grabbed it out she briefly made eye contact with Jimmy then quickly shut the door and started walking towards the front door of the house.

Every recent encounter had been awkward for them both. But suddenly an impulse that took over Jimmy that wasn't going to let the awkwardness continue. To his own surprise the words came from his mouth out of nowhere.

"Hey Cindy!"


	9. Chapter 9-Across the Street part 2

"How've you been?"

Cindy just stood there surprised he was talking to her. Jimmy was very nervous, expecting a verbal beating to come out any minute.

It was an incredibly awkward situation given how their paths had crossed in the past few days. Along with their complicated history into this was a weird situation for them both.

Jimmy genuinely did miss her after he left. For a while he admitted to himself that he liked her still when he was at Harvard. Since then he let those feelings evaporate but they would occasionally surface. Under normal circumstances he would've happily said "Hi" to her and strike up a conversation. Unfortunately previous encounters ruined any chance of that happening.

In his childhood he was used to her insults of being called a "nerd" or a "freak." Given recent events that occurred he really wasn't looking forward to having "pervert" adding to that resume of derogatory insults.

When he first saw her get out of the car he was desperate to apologize. To say something. Anything really. Whatever could be said to make things work out and not have to keep that stupid incident in their heads every time their paths crossed. But the surprised look on her face made him wish he left it alone. Whatever she was thinking, he figured it wasn't good. At this point she would always think of him as a creep (among other things) and he'd never be able to change that. Even now he felt like he physically fit the part given how nervous he was.

Cindy's eyes looked away as she began to open her mouth. "Um…" She brought up her arms and crossed them over her chest. She quickly brought her head down then back up to look at Jimmy. "Good… I've been good." Her response sounded less guarded but she still appeared angry.

Jimmy took his hands off the bin and put them in his pocket. He slouched a little as he took a couple steps towards her crossing the street. "Cool." Jimmy mumbled nervously.

Cindy awkwardly stood there trying to figure out what to say. "You?" She finally let slip out.

"Sorry?" Jimmy said confused.

"I meant you. How about you? How've you been?"

Jimmy stood in the street still close to his curb with his hands in his pockets. He began looking off while nodding his head up and down. "Good" he finally looked to Cindy to say. "I've been good as well. Just working and stuff, you know?" He let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah?… Cool." They both stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. Cindy began talking. "Well I'm glad you're doing good."

"Thank you." Jimmy said acknowledging her complement.

They both nodded to each other. Cindy then began to turn around to go inside when Jimmy began talking.

"You look good." Jimmy shouted across the street.

Cindy was still for a second, then began turning around giving him a slightly offended look. Jimmy caught on and began to feel nervous again.

"What I mean is you look good." Now turned back around and fully facing him, Cindy still has the same look on her face. Jimmy spoke nervously and quickly. "I mean you look like you're doing good. You seem like you're doing well. Not that you don't look good. I mean, you look good but what I mean to say is you seem like you're doing good." Jimmy said while gesturing his hands to acknowledge the professional attire she was wearing.

Cindy looked away towards the end of the street while taking steps towards the curb. She then looked at Jimmy. "Um… thank you. Thanks."

They both awkwardly nodded. Jimmy then spoke. "Well, I'm gonna go back inside. Good seeing you."

"Yeah, you too." Cindy replied. "I guess I might see you later."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Um, bye Jimmy." Cindy turned around to walk back to her house.

While they were talking, Carl drove up in his dad's car and parked in front of his house. When he got out he saw the two of them walking back inside. "Cindy!" Carl called out. Cindy turned around reacting to her own name. Jimmy reacted as well. Carl ran across the street towards Cindy. As he was halfway she began to smile at the sight of her old friend. She took some steps forward to meet him halfway. They both came in for a friendly hug.

"Ah, it's been a long time." Carl then breaks the hug. "How've you been." He asked.

"Good. I've been really good." Cindy replied.

Cindy and Carl become really close platonic friends in high school. Back in the day Carl would hang out with Jimmy &amp; Sheen and Cindy was best friends with Libby. Jimmy left right before high school and Sheen and Libby's relationship got much more serious. They were still a close group of friends but Sheen and Libby began spending much more time alone away from the rest of the group. That left Cindy and Carl alone with each other most of the time. The two had mainly been friends by association in the past. They started to get along when Carl was getting harassed by seniors during his freshman year. Cindy helped him build up his confidence and taught him to defend himself using her martial arts skills. She was also there to help him ask out girls in high school. Carl had changed a lot during school thanks to a boost in confidence from Cindy. That confidence helped him navigate through college and helped him impress Elke during the past 3 and a half years. Cindy was a great friend and Carl never forgot that she was there to help when he needed it.

'Wow, look at you! What's going on here? What are you up to?" Carl asked.

"I just got a job." Cindy said smiling.

"What? Did you drop out of school? What are you back home getting a job for?"

"I graduated last week. Finished a semester early."

"Wow, congratulations!" Carl hugged her again. He then let go. "But what about medical school? Are you not going now?"

"That's next fall. I'm going to be working here till then."

"Well let's go out and celebrate. I'm going to the bar with Sheen and Jimmy later tonight. You wanna come?"

She forgot Jimmy was still outside watching from across the street. He looked down the moment she shifted her gaze towards him.

"Um, maybe some other time." Cindy said.

"Oh, come on. We're all in town. Well mostly everyone. Why not catch up. It's not every day we're all in town. Come on, I want hear what you've been up." Carl said rather convincingly.

"Why would you go to a bar?" Cindy asked. "I thought you couldn't drink."

"I don't, but the social scene isn't bad. Look, I'll buy your drink. Deal? Come on, what do you say?"

Cindy looked back to Jimmy. She didn't seem to pissed off but Jimmy doubted she wanted to be in the same place as him. She thought for a second before answering.

"What time?"


	10. Chapter 10-Unexpected Familiar Faces

Cindy was reluctant to accept Carl's invitation to hang out at first. She was worried of how awkward it would be having Jimmy around. Their encounter earlier was an improvement but hardly made them friendly towards each other. But she accepted and they all went around 9pm that night. Carl borrowed his dad's car and drove Cindy while Jimmy went to pick up Sheen.

Once she got there it was like high school all over again, minus having Libby around. Carl, Sheen, and Cindy threw their childish antics aside their freshman year and all became really good friends in high school. Cindy was a little surprised seeing how different Sheen was since they last saw each other. But when they got to talking it was like nothing had changed.

"So are you here just for Christmas?" Sheen asked.

"No. I graduated." Cindy was happy to say.

"Already?" Cindy nodded. Sheen raised his glass. "Well let's drink to that!." Cindy raised hers as well. The glasses clicked and they both took a drink. "But don't you have 4 more years before you become Dr. Vortex?"

Cindy nodded after swallowing her gulp of beer. "I'm going back in the fall but I'm home till then."

Cindy spent every semester, winter, and summer vacation at Stanford University taking the maximum amount of classes that she could. She was able to keep herself busy as well as get a decent amount of sleep and maintain a social life. College was a piece of cake for her compared to the majority out there. She spent 3 and a half years in school majoring in Biology with a minor in English studies.

"So where are you working?" Carl asked Cindy.

"I got a job at the hospital" This got Jimmy's attention.

"What are you, a doctor in training?" Sheen asked.

"Are you interning?" Carl asked.

"No. I'm a clinical dietitian." Cindy answered. "It was the only job I was able to get here with my degree."

"A what-" Sheen asked confused.

"She's a nutritionist." Jimmy added unintentionally coming off as a bit of a jerk.

"Okay..." Sheen turned back to Cindy. "What do you do?" Sheen asked.

"Well, I guess I work with my boss and we look at what each patient needs to eat and how many meals they have a day."

"Does that pay a lot?" Sheen asked.

"Around $50,000 a year." Cindy answered.

"WOAH! Shit I need a degree so I can get a job that pays like that." Sheen remarked.

Cindy smiled. "It's actually not that much."

"Hey, it's way more than I'm getting."

Jimmy stayed quiet the rest of the time and Cindy basically forgot he was there. He mostly thought about what was happening to Jerry, but he was still listening to the conversation. Something about her story was not adding up for him and he wanted to find out why.

While Sheen and Cindy were still having a chuckle over Sheen's remark about money, that's when Jimmy interrupted. "So why did you come back here?"

They stopped laughing. Sheen, Carl, and Cindy were all a bit perplexed at the words that came out of Jimmy's mouth.

"What?" Cindy said rather confused by Jimmy's tone.

"Why did you move back here?"

Jimmy noticed that old look was coming back to her face. He knew that look. Whenever he got her blood boiling she would start off with that look and follow it up with a verbal beating. He realized how his question could easily come off as offensive to her, especially given his delivery of it. But it was a just a simple question to him. Just as he saw she was about to start antagonizing him he explained himself in order to neutralize it.

"I mean you're starting school in the fall and you were already living there. I'm just curious why you'd get a job here instead of one up there."

It made perfect sense. After all why would anyone come back to Retroville where there was nothing. Sheen and Carl both turned to Cindy awaiting an answer. She was clearly taken aback by the question and took a while to answer it.

"Um… You're right. I almost did get a job there. But my parents wanted me to spend some time with them and they were able to set me up with an interview here. So I just took the job and since I don't have to pay rent at home I can save up everything I make for medical school tuition."

Something still bothered him about her answer. He didn't think she was lying. He just thought she wasn't telling the whole truth. But instead of bombarding her with more questions he just left it alone.

"Well I'm glad you're back. It's nice to have someone other than mopey over here to talk to." Sheen said as he pointed at Jimmy. Jimmy just kept his head down looking at the table.

"What about you?" Cindy turned to Sheen. "Are you still at the Candy Bar?"

"Yeah." Sheen unenthusiastically answered. "Still there."

"Are you still trying to go to school?"

"Trying, yeah. I can't save up fast enough though. It's always going back to cell phone bills or water bills or rent." They all looked down at the table. Everyone did feel bad for Sheen but he didn't want to be the subject of everyone's buzzkill. Instead he changed the topic. "Anyway, do you still talk to Libby?"

"Yeah." Cindy responded.

"How is she?"

"She's good. Her group's doing really well in LA. Last time we talked she said they might be going on tour to open for some big band."

"Cool. That's great for her." Sheen said. He took a quick drink from his glass then blurted out his next question. "Is she seeing anyone?"

The question was so sudden that it caught Cindy off guard. "I… don't know." Cindy answered as though it was more like a question than a statement.

Carl interjected. "Dude, you gotta let that go. Besides don't you already have girlfriend?"

Sheen threw his left hand up as though he were tossing the question to the other side of the room. He took another drink from his glass.

"Yeah? Who is she?" Cindy asked despite being able to tell Sheen wanted to change the subject.

"You don't know her. She moved here and started at RCC about the time you left." Sheen said looking down at the table. He grabbed a fry from Carl's plate.

"Not going well?" Cindy asked.

"I can't stand being in the same room as her. You have no idea."

"Why don't you break up with her?" Carl asked. "From what you told me it doesn't sound healthy at all for either of you."

"I can't complain." Sheen said. "Neither one of us really likes each other but financially it makes sense for both of us to live together. It's easier to pay rent."

"Why don't you just move in with somebody? Find a roommate." Cindy pointed out. She then gestured to Jimmy. "Why don't you get a place with Neutron here? Or somebody? It's not that hard."

Surprised at the mention of his name, Jimmy seemed angry at the idea.

"Oh, we've talked about it before."

"Well I don't get. I mean a Harvard grad is probably making decent money to at least afford a place. I'm sure he's making enough at the lab he works at."

"HA!" Sheen laughed.

Cindy noticed Jimmy getting on more on edge. It confused her since she basically gave him a compliment. "What? I mean I'm sure you're making enough you don't need to live at home anymore." Jimmy gave her a calm but pissed off stare.

Sheen interjected. "You would think so, right?" He took one last drink from his glass as he emptied it. "But Jimmy isn't making more than $10 an hour. He's barely working more than 2 days a week."

"Shut up, Sheen." Jimmy said as calmly as possible but was clearly getting angrier. Cindy backed down from the subject.

Sheen picked up the pitcher and began pouring himself another glass. "He says he stays home just to help his mom but we all know that's bullshit."

"Sheen, shut up alright." Jimmy tried to stay calm.

"You wanna know something else." Sheen took a drink from his glass. "You know his lab? He hasn't even gone down and-"

"GOD DAMN IT, SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH SHEEN!" Jimmy yelled it out so the whole bar could hear him. "I don't need to sit here listening to you tell everyone my life's story and lecture me in the process! You don't hear me telling everyone how you should live your life so don't try to manage mine!" Carl and Cindy were surprised by Jimmy's outburst.

"Okay, I'm sorry dude." Sheen said both earnestly yet a little confused.

After a few seconds of quiet everyone in the bar went back to their conversations. No one at the table said a word. Carl then noticed the dart board wasn't being used. He took Cindy's hand. "Hey, you want to go play darts?" Carl asked while getting up.

"Um" Cindy quickly looked back at Sheen and Jimmy, both looking calm. She then began to get up from her chair. "Sure, let's go." They both left Jimmy and Sheen alone at the table.

* * *

About 30 minutes later most of the patrons had left being it was a Monday night and they had to wake up for work. Sheen was refilling the pitcher while Jimmy still sat at the table, occasionally looking over at Carl and Cindy playing darts. Jimmy figured Carl was telling her about his life in Iowa and she probably shared some anecdotes as well. He knew they both became close friends but this was the first time he had seen them this close. It was a strange sight but at the same time it was nice to see how much Carl had grown. And it was nice seeing how Cindy had grown in other ways. No, he wasn't thinking about the incident Friday night. He just didn't deny that she was an attractive member of the opposite sex. After all he always thought that even if he rarely said it out loud.

Sheen walked back over the table with the new pitcher in his hand. Jimmy took one last swig from his glass to prepare himself to refill it. Sheen took his seat and refilled both his and Jimmy's glass. The two rarely talked since Jimmy's outburst earlier that night. Just made some casual observations and shared them out loud. But finally Sheen broke the ice. "I can see you're still into her."

"Hmm?" Jimmy turned around looking at Sheen.

"Come on, man. You know what I'm talking about."

"What? You mean Cindy?"

"No shit, son!" Jimmy brushed it off. "Oh come on. We all knew you two had a thing for each other in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Don't deny it. Everyone knew."

Jimmy laughed a little. "Okay, yes I admit that I thought of her in that way back then and she did too at times. But that's history. Now I don't even know her. I don't know what she's been up to. There's nothing to relate to in her that I'm interested in."

"Yeah, that's why you keep staring at her. Right?"

"Can you point out another hot girl in this bar right now?" Jimmy raised his glass to take a drink.

"So she's hot?"

Jimmy quickly swallowed his drink to respond to that. "Well duh! Look around. I'm not gonna deny she's kind of cute. Doesn't mean I still have feelings for her."

"I don't know. You got pretty pissed off when I told her you barely had a job."

"No, that's just you being a dick about it."

"Alright, fair enough." Sheen said softening his tone. "Would you go out with her though?"

"What. Now?" Jimmy said surprised.

"Well I guess I mean if something came up."

Jimmy thought about it for a second. "You know what, sure. I doubt she's even still into me like that but if something happened I wouldn't oppose to it."

"So you still like her then." Sheen said in a smart alecky tone.

An annoyed Jimmy sighed. "I swear Libby still posses your mind at times. You gotta stop acting like her."

"Hey, you were the one that just said you'd be willing to go out with Cindy."

"I said 'if something happens' but I doubt it. Anyway I'd rather move forward and do something different. I'm not gonna waste my time reigniting an old flame. I want to know what the future has in store."

"Fair enough." Sheen said disappointed.

Jimmy got up from the table. "I'm gonna whack some balls." Jimmy said walking over to the pool table. Sheen went back to drinking alone.

* * *

Jimmy had been playing pool by himself for the past 10 minutes. He played by himself not because he was anti-social but because at this point it was well known he was unbeatable. It wasn't so much the game itself that he loved. It was the use of simple math and physics that he used to make the perfect shot into the pocket. It was basic problem solving to him rather than a game of skill. He didn't mind playing by himself because it calmed him down. After a while he heard a familiar voice come up from behind him.

"I see you still enjoy being alone in the company of yourself, huh Neutron." Jimmy let go of his shooting stance and got up to face Cindy. "Is your ego so big that it can't handle being around other people?"

Jimmy planted the back end of the cue on the ground and gropped both hands around it. "No, I'm just tired of hearing the lack of creativity in your insults, Vortex."

"Are you still so bad at games that they don't let you play with anyone else?"

"Why don't you grab a cue a find out." Jimmy said with a dead serious grin.

Cindy was a little taken aback by how confident he was in his last remark. It definitely was not the Jimmy she was used to bantering with. "Fine." She said walking over to the wall to pick up a cue. "But I break."

"Ladies first." Jimmy said as he took out 3 quarters from his pocket to buy the balls for a new game. He racked the balls while Cindy applied chalk to her cue. When they were ready to play, Jimmy slid the white ball over to Cindy. She caught it and with precision immediately planted it on the center sticker in attempt to assert dominance. Jimmy didn't know if this was considered flirting given how awkward their relationship had been in the past but he just grinned a little willing to play along. Cindy made aime and took her shot. Every ball scattered around the table, not one ball going in a single pocket. Jimmy caught the slight tinge of frustration on Cindy's face as she got back up and smiled at him.

Jimmy got in his shooting stance where the white ball was. It was right in front of a the solid green ball which was right in front of a pocket. An impossible shot to miss. He took the shot and made it. He got back up and gave Cindy a satisfied look.

"Good for you. You made one." Cindy said with sarcastic enthusiasm. Jimmy just smiled back. When he turned his back to her Cindy leaned against the wall crossing her arms with the cue stick still in her left hand.

Jimmy aimed straight for two solid balls on the other side of the table. They were lined up to both go in the pocket in front of them. Jimmy gave a tap that was aggressive enough so the ball would roll over to the solid ball up front. The ball started rolling to the other solid one and tapped it. The solid immediately went it. The momentum of the one hit by the white ball slowed down but it slowly made it's way into the hole. Jimmy got back up and again gave a satisfied look.

"You're just lucky." Cindy jealously stated.

"Luck has nothing to do with it my dear Cynthia."

Cindy scoffed at the use of her full name. "Oh please."

"You want to make this game more interesting?"

Her eyes lit up. "What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, let me think." Jimmy pondered for a second.

"How about winner gets $20?"

"No, that's not interesting. It's too easy." Jimmy thought some more. "Can you still make those cookies you made in middle school."

"Yeah." Cindy answered intrigued where this was going.

"Okay, well if I win you have to make me a batch."

"Interesting… What if I win? What do I get?" Cindy asked.

"You have something in mind?"

Cindy thought for a second. "How about you give me full access to your lab?"

"Really? That's all you want?"

Cindy was surprised by how casual he was about it. "Well I don't know what else is important to you."

"Okay, sure. If you win you can have it. Not that that matters anyway." Jimmy got in shooting stance and aimed for a striped ball that was close to going in a pocket.

"Um, you do know that you're supposed to aim solid balls into the hole." Cindy pointed out laughing at the notion of Jimmy messing up. "Is the lab okay? I'm surprised you're practically trying to give it away."

"I'm well aware of the wager, Vortex. If you don't mind I'm concentrating." Jimmy focused closely on the striped ball. He perfected his aim and took a deep breathe. TAP! The white ball went towards one of Cindy's stripes and aggressively banged up against it. Jimmy got up quickly to see how his shot played out. The striped ball moved close to the pocket but just barely touched the edge before going in the hole. It ricocheted back and hit a solid and a stripe. The solid went to the closest pocket while the stripe went down the other way. Cindy saw the stripe was heading for another solid. As the first solid ball went it, the stripe ball hit Jimmy's other solid and guided it to another pocket. The ball still had momentum and went towards another solid. Meanwhile the white ball went back and forth many times that was approaching the 8 ball. The stripe hit a third solid and knocked it in. However the white ball hit the 8 and slowly sent it towards the pocket. Jimmy held his gaze on it as Cindy eagerly watched it crawl to the pocket. Right as it was on the tip of falling in, that's when the 8 ball stopped moving. Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief. He only had one ball left to knock in before the 8 and then he won.

"Okay, you didn't make a cue that would help you cheat did you?"

Jimmy casually took aim and took his shot. "This isn't like baseball, Vortex. It's a fairly simple game to master." He knocked in the solid, leaving only the 8 ball which was on the edge of the pocket.

Cindy crossed her arms. "And how did you master it, Neutron?"

Jimmy took his last shot. "It's just basic physics with some geometry and trigonometry worked in. It's really simple."

Cindy scoffed at his smartass retort. "Typical Neutron. You always have to show off, don't you?"

Cindy appeared to be reverting back to old habits. Jimmy wasn't really in the mood for an argument. He was just having playful banter. But he could tell that she was annoyed enough that if he argued back that would both be screaming at each other. Instead he went a different route.

"Hey, not everyone can be great at everything. I'm sure if I played you darts you're throwing arm has me beat."

Cindy was once again surprised by Jimmy. "Did… Did I just here Jimmy Neutron admit that he's not perfect?"

"Well, yeah." Jimmy casually replied. "It's not like everyone can be perfect at everything. You got stuff you're good at. I got stuff I'm good at. That's how it works."

"Wow." Cindy was still taking it in. "That's really mature of you to admit."

Jimmy held his smile satisfied by Cindy's reaction. It surprised him that he genuinely felt good at this moment. But his pause went on long enough that he came back trolling. "Yeah, I'm not perfect. However I am a certified genius which means I'm still always right about everything."

Cindy scoffed. Jimmy kept his playful grin and chuckled a little. That chuckle eventually evolved into a laugh. At first he wasn't sure if Cindy was participating in the same playful banter as him, but she soon let out her own chuckle. It seemed to him she at least got that he was kidding around… kind of.

From the distance Jimmy could see Carl and Sheen talking while pointing at him and Cindy. When they noticed him looking they both waved back at them. Jimmy held up the middle finger when Cindy wasn't looking. Suddenly Sheen started throwing up on the table. Cindy and Jimmy went straight to the table. Carl helped Sheen get up and placed an arm over his shoulder. Jimmy got Sheen's other arm and placed it over his own shoulder.

"Cindy, grab that pitcher!" Jimmy shouted as Sheen puked all over Carl.

Cindy brought the pitcher over and held it for Sheen to puke. He stopped for a second and they quickly ran to the bathroom to get Sheen to the toilet. Jimmy gave Carl a pill for Sheen. He went back outside.

"Sorry JT." Jimmy said to the bartender.

JT just waved it off. It was a common occurrence. Cindy had seen it in high school. Sheen was a heavier drinker now than he was in high school but even then he'd puke at random times from drinking. His tolerance wasn't that great. JT never bothered him about it because Sheen was always a good customer.

* * *

They were all still a little buzzed leaving the bar but sober enough to drive at the legal limit. Carl, still covered in Sheen's puke, had carried Sheen by the shoulder and walked him to his car. Jimmy puke free. "I'm gonna take him home. You okay with taking Cindy back?" Carl asked Jimmy.

"Yeah, of course." Jimmy looked over to Cindy. "If that's okay with you."

"No, yeah. It's fine… You know… I don't want to deal with the stink anyway." Cindy looked to Carl. "No offense."

"None taken." Carl replied.

"Yeah, cool. That works out." Cindy said a little awkwardly. Jimmy smiled back with the same amount of awkwardness.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." Carl told Jimmy and stepped into his car.

* * *

While driving Jimmy felt nervous. He didn't know why. It was bothering him that he felt nervous when he knew in his mind he had no reason to. He didn't like the silence and wanted to break it. As he was about to open his mouth, Cindy came out with the first word.

"I see you got rid of the hover car in favor for a _real_ car."

Jimmy thought carefully about how to steer this conversation. "You like it?"

Cindy looked around admiring the Hummer, not knowing it was the hover car. "I never figured you for a Hummer guy but it's nice. I'm surprised you could afford it. Your mom or dad help you get it?"

"No, I got it myself."

"Wow." Cindy said sounding somewhat impressed. "Well it's better than driving that plastic boat tube."

"You didn't like the hover car?" Jimmy asked somewhat disappointed by the thought her childhood memories of it weren't as nice as his.

"It's not that I didn't like it. I mean, it was cool when we were 12. It's just not something a grown up would have now, you know?" Jimmy nodded. "Shame you don't still have it though." Cindy said assuming the hover car was gone. "I figured you would've kept it to go to some places far away."

"Like where?" Jimmy asked to get her to keep talking.

"I don't know. Anywhere. I mean you could go to Europe or Australia. There's places we've been to like Egypt or the island."

THE ISLAND. Jimmy was glad to hear her mention it. It gave him the window to steer this conversation in a place he wanted it to go.

"You still think about that place?" Jimmy asked.

Cindy took a second to respond. "Not really. We're talking about the hover car. It came to mind."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Jimmy sounded a little disappointed. He didn't know why. It wasn't like he consciously wanted to be with her like he used to be.

"You haven't gone back, have you?" Cindy asked.

"No."

"I wonder if those houses are still there. You remember that?"

"Yeah, of course I remember." Jimmy thought for a second about what to say next. "You wanna go?"

Cindy laughed. "What? Right now?"

"We can if you want."

"I thought you just said you got rid of the hover car?"

"I never said that. You assumed I did because I'm driving this Hummer. All I did was ask you if you didn't like it and where you would've gone with it." Cindy thought back on the conversation. Her look told Jimmy she realized he was right. "You know we can go."

"Sure. This time at night? It'll be freezing cold and you don't have seatbelts in that thing."

"It's safer now. I made quite a few modifications and put in new safety features. There's no way we can fall overboard again."

"Whatever. I'm sure it'll go haywire like all of your other inventions."

"I've never had a problem with it."

"Well I don't see myself ever getting in it any time soon after what happened last time."

"Oh, I highly doubt that."

"Oh really? Tell me, Neutron: What makes you think I will ever set foot inside your 'newly modified hover car?'" She said using her fingers to make air quotes

Jimmy turned to Cindy and smiled. "Because you're sitting in it." Cindy was dumbfounded yet again for what seemed like the billionth time that night. Whatever she expected of Jimmy Neutron, she was constantly surprised for better or worse. Although she was a little disappointed in herself because she should've seen this one coming. After all it made absolute sense for Jimmy to make changes to the hover car in order for it to appear like a regular vehicle.

Jimmy flipped open the control panel and showed her he could switch to fly mode. "You wanna go?" He had his finger ready to push the button.

Cindy sat back in shock for a bit but quickly came back to her senses. "Wait a minute. You're not serious are you, Neutron?"

Jimmy was simply enjoying playful banter but he could tell she was being serious in her question. The last thing he wanted to do tonight was piss her off especially since they were having a halfway decent night being a little nicer to each other.

"No, not at all." Jimmy said as his buzz went down a bit. "Just messing around." He closed the control panel and went back to looking at the road while driving. He felt like an idiot for what he just tried to pull. It seemed like fun but reality set in and now it seemed like a stupid idea. What he didn't notice was Cindy slouching down her seat with the subtlest hint of disappointment on her face. To be fair no one would've noticed it anyway. No one except for probably Libby that is.

After a short silence Cindy finally spoke "Well you did a good job with it." Jimmy turned to look at her for a bit. "The car I mean. It looks nice. It looks like a real Hummer" He brought his eyes back on the road.

"Thanks." There was roughly 30 seconds of silence before Jimmy started talking again. "So you're working at the hospital now?"

"Yeah. First day tomorrow." Cindy said with a light sarcastic groan. "No, I'm really looking forward to it. It gets me exposure to the hospital workflow outside of Stanford."

"Cool." Jimmy said having little to work into the conversation.

"Oh yeah, I saw your mom there. I'm actually working with her for part of it."

"Really. A nurse helps out nutritionists."

"Yeah, she tries to do everything to help out patients. She works really hard actually. My boss told me she probably takes on more than she can handle."

"Yeah, that sounds like my mom."

"She really looks tired though."

"Yeah, you would be too if you worked 80 hours a week."

"Oh my God."

"Yeah, she works her butt off to pay for the house and everything else."

"Jeezz." It was quiet for a moment. "And you don't help her out?"

"Well when I can, I mean. You know I do some work around the house-"

"I mean with bills." Jimmy knew he didn't like where this was going. "You don't even have a job yet."

"Hey, I work. I get paid-"

"Two days a week? You of all people should be making a lot. I'm surprised you're not working for NASA."

Jimmy raised his voice a little. "Look can we not talk about this? I get enough crap from everyone else and I'm tired of hearing it. And I'll be honest, it might be the drinks but tonight I'm actually having a good time talking to you, not trying to win an argument at the top of my lungs. It's good seeing you and I don't want to start having to defend myself." Cindy didn't say a word. She was clearly disappointed in him but she didn't yell back at him. Jimmy took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. "I know I should be doing something, okay." Cindy turned to look back at him. "It's just all a mess. I'd rather not talk about it if that's okay."

Cindy began to feel empathy for Jimmy though she wasn't sure why. Something seemed to bother him beyond his troubles at home. "Okay. Yeah, that's fine."

"Thank you." Jimmy went back to focusing on the road. The drive went back to being silent.

They were a couple blocks away from their neighborhood when Cindy opened her mouth. "I'm sorry to bring it up, and you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but you're not working for that guy trying to create super mice are you?" 'Super Mice' was a term being used by the press when reporting Carvey's work.

"Yeah, I'm working with that guy." Jimmy was reluctant to say.

Cindy stayed quiet for a bit. "Well look, I know it's none of my business but I think you could do better than working for someone like that. You've done better than that."

"Thanks." Jimmy genuinely did appreciate the comment. "I'm really tired of working for that piece of moron."

Hearing Jimmy say that made Cindy happy she wouldn't have to bottle up what was on her mind. "God, is he really that stupid? I mean we all know it's ethically wrong to experiment on animals but usually when we do it we learn something about their nature. What's he trying to do?"

"Why do you think he's doing it? He wants money."

"Well you haven't been getting any of it."

"I don't want it at this point." Cindy noticed the concerned tone in his voice. "It's scary what he's doing to him. I don't know what the hell Jerry's thinking when it's happening." Jimmy ranted still a little buzzed. He noticed Cindy was a little confused. "Jerry is the mouse we injected the cells into."

Cindy nodded understanding what he meant. "Well you don't need me to tell you it's stupid. But why are you helping him?"

"I tried to tell them not to do it. The best I could do was convince them not to experiment on monkeys when I brought up _Planet of the Apes." _Cindy laughed. "Seriously, if I hadn't said anything there'd be more protesters out there because of that. I think I inadvertently helped make it worse."

Jimmy pulled up the car in his driveway and parked.

Cindy struggled to find a way to convince Jimmy to quit. "Well, I can't tell you what you don't already know."

Jimmy appreciated her concern. It was nice that to him it seemed like she genuinely cared about his feelings toward the matter.

"Well… I hope your first day goes over well."

"Thank you." Cindy said appreciatively.

"Um… I guess since you're back I'll see you around."

"Yeah… Carl told me you guys have been hanging out at that bar every night."

"Well you're more than welcome to come. I mean, I don't know if it's too much of a guy thing for you or anything but it'd be cool to have you around."

"No, it's no problem at all. It's nice to see some familiar faces. Just in general it's nice to be with people you know around here. You know what I mean?"

"Definitely." Jimmy nodded awkwardly. "Well I might see you tomorrow."

"Maybe. We'll see."

"Cool… Alright, well I'll see you around."

Jimmy and Cindy both got out of the car. Cindy started walking towards her house.

Cindy turned around. "See ya."

"See ya." He responded.

Jimmy walked up to his front door and unlocked the door. When he opened it he stopped and turned around for a second. "Hey Vortex!" He shouted across the street. Cindy turned around. "Remember to close your curtains this time!" Before he ever had the opportunity to see the embarrassed look he imagined was on her face right now, Jimmy quickly shut the front door.

* * *

Apart from the alcohol, he really had no idea why he was feeling so happy at this moment. It was kind of an awkward night seeing her. He expected her to throw insults at him just like old times but she was just as uncomfortable as he was. That really surprised him. And even though she took a couple jabs at him it seemed to him they were both just being playful. He had to admit it to himself that he actually had fun. Probably the most fun he had in a long time. Suddenly he thought back on the last thing he said to her before shutting the door. Jimmy intended to just be messing around. Now he worried about how stupid what he had said was. It was a joke but did she even get that? Did she think it was "cute funny" like he meant it to be? Or even funny at all? What if he ruined the night and she would just go back to thinking he was a weirdo? The thought really bothered him.

While still hung up on that thought of what happened outside, Jimmy was surprised to see a suitcase standing in front of the closet across from the front door. A faint sound of something like paper came from the living room. A dim light came from that direction. It was obvious there was a guest in the house, but Jimmy wasn't notified at all about anyone staying over. Especially at this time of night he didn't expect anyone to be awake. He moved over to the living room noticing the end of the mattress on the pull-out couch. On the chair next to the bed an immediately recognizable blue sweater-vest rests on the edge. Just before he reached the corner he knew it would be his dad laying on that pull-out couch. Thoughts quickly began to speculate what he was doing back home. Was it just for Christmas? Are his parents getting back together? There really weren't any other possibilities he could think of. Although if they were together he certainly would be sleeping in his old bedroom and Hugh had another family that he would no doubt be spending Christmas with.

Jimmy expected to see a "happy" face from his dad the moment he entered the living room. He figured he would act like his old cheery self and pretend everything was okay. Once he entered the living room he saw a pair of sad eyes looking through an old Retroville High year book from the 70s. Hugh's gaze quickly turned to Jimmy. He quickly tossed the yearbook under the sheets as he let a small smile perk up. "Heeyyy Jimbo." Hugh said enthusiastically but quietly to not wake up Judy.

"Hey." Jimmy said confused by his father's presence. "I… I didn't know you were coming. Are you here for Christmas?"

Hugh's smile faded right away. "Um… No… It's a little more complicated than that."

"Are you in trouble? Is everything okay?"

"No!" Hugh threw his hands up to gesture that there was no problem. He chuckled a little at the question. "No, it's nothing like that." His tone went back to being sad. "Um, I have a friend that's sick so I'm just here for the week. I have to get back to Florida before Christmas. Your mom insisted I stay here in the meantime."

"Who's sick?" Jimmy asked concerned.

Hugh took a second to compose himself to reply. "Well an old friend of mine from high school has stomach cancer and it doesn't look too good. I want to make sure things end in a better place."

"Oh." Jimmy looked down not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"That's life I suppose." A moment of silence occurred between the two. Hugh then spoke up. "Anyway, how are you? Are you getting a job?"

"I have a job."

"I mean a real job that pays you more than one day a week."

"God, has mom been talking to you?" Jimmy asked a little annoyed but still sympathetic to his father's pain.

"She's really worried about you, Jimbo." Hugh said earnestly.

"Well I'm doing fine for myself."

"Okay. I'm sure you'll do great." Hugh quietly said. Another moment of silence passed between them till Jimmy got the conversation going again. "Hows the family in Florida?"

"Good actually… Really good. Your sister is actually talking already. She might be just as smart as you." Hugh said sounding more proud as he kept talking.

"That's good." Jimmy nodded politely but awkwardly not knowing where to take the conversation.

More silence passed between them. Hugh began to speak. "Look, I'm going to be busy most of the week but if you have time we can catch up-"

Jimmy responded before Hugh finished talking. "Definitely. I'll let you know what's going on."

"Okay." Both of them stood there awkwardly. "Well, goodnight." Hugh finally said.

"Goodnight." Jimmy quickly left the room and went upstairs.


	11. Chapter 11-About Sheen

"Come on, you can't leave me hanging like that. What happened on the way back?"

"Seriously, nothing. We just talked. Really not much to it. It was friendly and not that big a deal."

Jimmy and Carl were walking towards the supermarket to buy candy before they went to line up for the "Ultralord" midnight screening. It was much cheaper to buy it at there instead of the theater.

"Sure, it's never that big a deal between the two of you." Carl said with a smirk.

"Come on, dude. Is it really that shocking? It's been 8 years and we're both consenting adults now. You don't think we can at least be mature about the past. Everyone laughs about the stupid stuff they did when they were kids. I ran into Butch around town probably 5 times and he doesn't relapse back to being a bully. We all just laugh about it now."

The two entered the supermarket and right away headed for the candy aisle. Carl kept his smartalec I-know-something-happened grin on his face. Jimmy saw it. Annoyed, he stopped walking and put his hand up to stop Carl.

"Look, all we really did was talk." He lowered his hand. "It wasn't anything huge. But I'll admit it was nice. We weren't at each other's throats and we just talked about the hovercar and her job and my job and that's more or less it. She was cool to talk to, you should know that. You two are pretty close friends after all." Jimmy went back to the direction of the candy. Carl followed him from behind.

"Yeah, I know. But I know Cindy pretty well too and back in the bar I'm pretty sure she was flirting with you."

"People flirt for fun. It's simple. It's not always sexual."

"Yeah right! I don't believe you. And you know it's never been that simple when it comes to you both."

"Alright, so there was a bit of wordplay going on. Doesn't mean anything, it was just good fun."

"I'm sure it was more than that for her."

Jimmy stopped walking and quickly turned back to Carl. "Why? Did she say anything?" He asked quickly.

Carl's smirk grew. "Why do you wanna know? I thought it wasn't a big deal."

Jimmy turned back around and started walking again. "Look, we're just friends. Not that anything is official but if we're both gonna be in the same town for the next 9 months I'm sure we'll get along fine without any romantic entanglements. I'm guessing she feels the same way. That's the vibe I got last night."

"You're probably right. She told me something similar after she got home last night."

"So what did she say?" Jimmy asked eagerly but tried to downplay it.

"Just that she had fun and would like to do it again."

"Did you invite her to the movie?" Jimmy asked.

"No, she's spending the night with her family." Carl answered. Jimmy noticed Carl's response to that sounded a bit sad as if he knew something was up. But the thought quickly went away.

They stopped in front of the candy. Jimmy grabbed himself some Junior Mints and Carl got some Swedish fish.

"What do you think Sheen wants?" Jimmy asked Carl.

"Maybe get him some M&amp;M's or Skittles." Carl then changed the tone of the conversation. "Jim, you mind if I ask you about something serious?" He said still sounding a little sad after saying what Cindy was doing that night.

Jimmy was beginning to wonder if Cindy was in trouble and he was just going to find out about it. "What's up?" He asked.

Carl thought of how to phrase his question carefully but then he just bluntly asked "Is Sheen okay?"

Jimmy was a little puzzled. "How do you mean?"

"Well… it's just last night he was still drunk. He lost the pill you gave him apparently. He kind of ranted about stuff." Carl said hesitantly.

"Drunk people have the tendency to rant about _random stuff._" Jimmy explained.

"This was different… He brought up _the incident._." Carl said dead serious.

"The one we agreed never to talk about?" Jimmy said giving Carl a serious look. "It can't be that, can it? Because if so I seem to remember we all agreed-"

They stopped at the self checkout counter to buy their candy.

"Yes, that one." Carl interrupted. "And I know we agreed but this was the first time he's ever talked about it. Or at least to me anyway."

"I don't want to hear about this, Carl. That was the worst year of my life. I'd like to forget it-"

Carl interrupted "He got suicidal last night." Jimmy listened closely. "Just the things he was saying… It really worried me, Jim. You remember how down he was when we brought him back. And when you left things actually began to turn great for him. Last night he just went on about 'what if I stayed' and 'I was royalty' and other stuff like that. He was drunk, I don't know what he was talking about. And then he got really dark and talked about life and the universe having no point. He even asked if he could live with me. I said no though, now I guess it sounded more dickish then I would've meant for it to. I mean I know he was drunk but it was scary. I really don't think he's okay."

"You don't have to tell me that. I know how bad it is for him."

"And I met his girlfriend last night. HOLY SHIT!" Carl cursed.

"You met 'The Beast?'"

"That's what you call her?" Carl asked laughing a little. "Anyway she just screamed at him calling him useless and blaming him for not bringing food. It doesn't sound too bad but it was really depressing. That whole place was a mess and smelled really bad. I don't know how their relationship is but I don't think it's going well."

They both walked out of the supermarket and started walking towards the Candy Bar across the street.

"It's not. Believe me, I've told him many times to go back and start school."

"I just don't like seeing him depressed like that."

"Welcome to Retroville, Carl." Jimmy said with proud sarcasm. "_Everyone _here is depressed. The whole town is trapped in nostalgia." Jimmy pointed to the Candy Bar. "Look at the Candy Bar. It's just a recreation of the 50s. Everything else around here is "Retro" just trying to relive a time that's gone. Everyone's got problems. I'm sure Cindy will have her issues too pretty soon. She should've stayed at Stanford." He said with a chuckle.

Carl was clearly hurt by that remark. "Dude, that's not funny."

"I wasn't kidding."

Carl retaliated retaliated. "You don't know her problems."

"Would you care to inform me." Jimmy began to raise his voice a little.

Carl began to raise his voice to argue back. "At least she's doing something. That's the problem with both you and Sheen. Neither of you do anything. Of all people you should be kicking ass right now in the real world."

Jimmy stopped walking in the parking lot. He got more defensive. "Don't tell me what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm sorry if things are not as perfect as Iowa for us here. Yeah, I've got my own problems and I'm working on it. Sheen? I've tried everything. What else am I supposed to do, Carl? You tell me!"

A long pause occurred as Jimmy waited for Carl to answer. "Okay, I don't want to fight. It's just I'm worried about Sheen. I don't want to suddenly find out he did _something_."

"What? Kill himself?" Jimmy said bluntly. "He's not gonna do it, Carl. He's gone through a lot but he still manages to pull through."

"I just feel like we have to do something."

"Don't ask me to take care of him. I can't even take care of myself."

"Are you kidding me! You can support yourself on this planet or anywhere else in the galaxy. You really need to get out of your well of self-pity."

Jimmy starts walking again. "Jesus, you've only been here for 5 days and you act like you know all my problems."

Carl struggles to say something as he walks behind Jimmy. Ultimately he stays quiet until they reach the Candy Bar.

* * *

Jimmy and Carl sit at the bar alone, not a single patron or employee in sight. Carl began to talk for the first time since they were walking over.

"So why can't Sheen leave her?" Carl asked.

Jimmy was still upset over their conversation outside. He quickly adjusted his attitude after noting the earnestness in Carl's question. "He says it's for financial reasons. It's easier for them because rent is expensive all over town."

"I'm guessing with a nickname like 'The Beast' she's kind of bitchy."

"That's an understatement." Jimmy laughed.

Silence passed for a moment till Carl spoke again. "I don't get it though. How did they start dating."

"It was a one-night stand and she got pregnant." Jimmy simplified. Carl's jaw dropped. "Or so she said anyway. They both agreed they'd move in together and raise the kid, not get married right away. Then 15 months later Sheen realized there wasn't a kid yet and Alicia told him she had a "miscarriage" early into the pregnancy. He got mad and she made up some story about not telling him because she was afraid he'd leave her. Of course Sheen defended her. And since then his excuse was they just live together because financially it makes sense, which it does. I just don't know why he doesn't look for another roommate."

Carl looks down still processing everything. Suddenly Sam came from the kitchen.

"Well well well, did he send you both here to make excuses?" Sam asked seriously.

"What?" Jimmy asked confused.

"Your buddy was a no-show this morning. I make a small change to the schedule so he have an opening shift and still see his dumb movie yet he doesn't even show up for work. I've been back there washing the dishes for him and taking care of the front."

"Sheen's not here?" Carl asked.

"I just said that, didn't I?" Sam asked rhetorically.

Suddenly Carl's phone began to vibrate. Before Carl picked it up Jimmy noticed Cindy was the caller.

Carl answered the phone. "Hello… Why, what's going on?… What?… We'll be right there." Carl hung up the phone and got up. "Come on." He said to Jimmy.

"What's going on?" Jimmy asked still sitting and confused.

"Sheen's at the hospital."

* * *

On the 4th floor of Retroville General Hospital the two friends sprinted as they searched for their third amigop. Judy threw her hands up as soon as she saw them.

"Woah! WOAH!"

Carl and Jimmy quickly lost their balance as they struggled to stop. They finally stood back up straight on their own feet.

"Guys, don't' run. It's dangerous to run in a hospital. A lot of people are here."

"Sorry." They both apologized out of breathe.

"Okay." Judy then brought her hands down and began to look more serious. "I'll take you to him. Follow me."

Judy walked down the hospital wing as the boys followed. It was like any other day at a hospital: a fairly chaotic environment but calm at the same time.

Jimmy and Carl knew they were close to Sheen's room when they both saw two police officers questioning Alicia. They overheard her rambling as they walked by.

"… I'm not surprised that he would do it. I've felt something was off for a while but I never thought he'd kill himself." Alicia babled.

"Mam, that's not official." One officer interjected.

Alicia continued. "I mean he's been so down and working so hard to pay bills. I can see how stress would get to him. He doesn't even have time to take me out anymore. And with him working so much more than me I can see why he would be under so much stress and want to end his own life." She went on expressing fake sympathy.

Carl gave Alicia an annoyed glance as they past by. She acknowledged it without changing her fake expression. Judy and Jimmy both looked forward as they kept walking.

Jimmy noticed they walked past the door to Sheen's room when he noticed his name on the clipboard hanging on the door. He went towards the door till Judy pulled his arm and continued to walk forward. He became even more concerned.

As they walked around the corner the sound of Alicia's babbling faded away. Judy sat them both down in the chairs against the wall.

"I need you two to wait right here." Judy said.

Carl took a seat. Jimmy confronted his mom. "Why did we pass the room? Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine. I just didn't want you to listen to that brat." She said clearly annoyed.

"Did he try to kill himself?" Carl asked.

Judy looked at them both unsure of how to respond. "… I'll have the doctor explain it to you. Just wait here for a bit." She sat Jimmy down and walked away leaving the two friends frozen in shock.

* * *

After sitting for about 10 minutes Carl let the first word slip out.

"I should've said 'yes.'"

Jimmy looked over at him confused. Carl looked back. "I should've said he could move in."

"Come on, Carl. It's got nothing to do with that."

"Last night he was really-"

"He was drunk." Jimmy interrupted. "We all were drinking. It's no one's fault. He wouldn't kill himself the night before the premiere of one of his favorite childhood classics."

"You don't know how bad it was last night." Carl looked away and put his head down on his wrists.

Jimmy gave him a pat on the back. "Hey, it's not your fault. Trust me."

Carl looked back up to him. "How do you know that?"

Jimmy didn't have a response. He took his hand off Carl's shoulder. Carl buried his head back in his hands.

Jimmy's phone suddenly started to vibrate. It was Carvey. Jimmy ignored the call and put his phone back in his pocket.

A few seconds later the doctor was standing in front of the boys. He wore a white coat, held a clipboard and seemed quite clean and professional.

"Are you two friends of Sheen Estevez?" The doctor asked. Jimmy and Carl simply nodded. "I'm Dr. Miller. I'm looking over your friend. He should be okay."

"What did he do?" Carl asked.

"Sheen just had a traumatic brain injury." The doctor explained. "We believe he simply lost his balance. To put it simply the fall caused severe trauma to the head and rattled his brain."

"So he didn't commit suicide." Carl said relieved but still concerned.

"The authorities are still looking into that. His partner seems convinced that he did. I personally don't believe it. The signs point at this being only an accident. Although try telling that to his partner." The doctor quietly chuckled at that last bit. Jimmy chuckled along with him. "The good news is he's alive and breathing."

"There's bad news?" Jimmy asked catching on to Dr. Miller's delivery.

The doctor took a few seconds before saying the next thing he had to say.

"Sheen's in a coma."

* * *

Dr. Miller opens the door for Jimmy and Carl to enter. It was one of the smaller rooms in the hospital with no windows.

Sheen was laid on a bed, tubes hooked up to his arm and all. He had a large tube shoved down his throat connected to a breathing machine. The hiss of it pumping air was working at a steady pace. The heart monitor made a beep every four seconds.

On Sheen's forehead they saw there was a bandage. He had a black eye underneath that seemed bad enough. It was difficult to fathom that whatever was beneath the bandage could possibly be worse than his eye.

Jimmy's phone vibrated again. He ignored it.

"He really cracked his head open and lost a lot of blood." Dr. Miller explained. "It's amazing he's still alive. We managed to stitch him up good. He should be physically fine when he wakes up."

The sight was truly frightening. When they heard he was in a coma they figured he'd just be laying down asleep, not hooked up to a giant machine for life support.

"If he only hit his head then why is he breathing through a tube?" Jimmy asked.

"He has a collapsed lung." Dr. Miller answered. "How? We don't know. It's a freak accident. I've never seen anything happen like this from inside a household."

Jimmy kept looking at the bandage on Sheen's head. Although he was fully stitched it was covered in blood. Dried up brown blood.

"You said physically he should be okay." Jimmy turned and looked at the doctor. "What about mentally?"

Dr. Miller first gave Jimmy a "bad news" look. "Unfortunately we have no way of knowing that until he wakes up. We don't know how many brain cells he's lost. When he wakes up it's likely he will have bad short term memory. If that's the case he could very well improve over time. But honestly we won't know if there's been any severe permanent damage or if it's temporary until he wakes up."

Jimmy and Carl continued to quietly look at Sheen as they continued to process what was going on.

"I'll leave you two alone." Dr. Miller put his hand on a button against the wall. "If you need me just page me with this button. But only if it's serious."

They both nodded that they understood. Dr. Miller left the two friends standing there. For about a good 5 minutes the didn't move. Jimmy's phone vibrated a few more times and he didn't even take his phone out of his pocket. They had to accept the fact that even if Sheen woke up their childhood friend may not be the same person he once was.


	12. Chapter 12-Maybe I'm an Asshole

After sitting quietly for about an hour, Jimmy was the first to leave Sheen's room. Carl was still shocked by the situation. Upon opening the door it was a jarring experience to go from Sheen's dark, funeral home-esque room and then to cross over in the bright daytime hallways of the hospital. The rest of the world continued to move at efficient speeds while his friend was alone in a dark corner unable to breathe on his own. Thoughts of guilt took over his mind but he wasn't quite sure why.

As Jimmy was adjusting to the new environment he walked into he saw Alicia talking to someone in the hospitals legal department. He overheard their conversation.

"Now sadly it's possible he may not wake up for a long time. It could even be 20 years and by that point the shock could be too much for him." The employee explained.

"I understand." Alicia tried to appear professional as if this was a job interview.

'So instead of giving him that pain it may be better for him to be on the donor list incase someone needs an organ."

"Of course. I'll sign it for him. I'm sure he'd be willing to-"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Jimmy shouted across from them. He began to march over intensely. "You can't do that."

Alicia began to explain. "Now Jimmy, I know he's your friend and we're all upset but it might be best to-"

"Shut up!" Alicia was stunned by Jimmy's commanding presence. He turned to the hospital employee. "She can't do this. She doesn't have any legal right to make that decision."

"They're both married." The legal employee explained.

Jimmy looked back at Alicia in shock. "You told them you two were married." There was a long pause as he kept giving her a dead stare. Alicia looked down. "Are you fucking stupid? You don't think they'd catch on to a simple detail like that?" Alicia walked away annoyed. Jimmy looked back at the employee. "They just live together. I'm his best friend. I have more say in this than she does, okay."

"Okay. Okay." The employee tried to calm him down.

Jimmy took a deep breathe. "Have you contacted him parents?"

"No. We still haven't located any family."

Jimmy took out his phone. He saw a bunch of missed calls and a text from Carvey saying "WHERE ARE YOU?! I NEED YOU HERE NOW!" Jimmy unlocked his screen and pulled up the contact info for Sheen's uncle.

"Here. This is his uncle. He sends out money to him every month. He should be able to get a hold of the rest of the family."

"Thank you." The employee wrote down the contact information on the clipboard. "I'll look into it."

Jimmy nodded back at the employee and then proceeded to walk away.

* * *

Jimmy took a stroll through the hospital trying to collect his thoughts. The hospital was a place where people went when they got sick or were seriously injured. Even his smart, rational brain struggled to accept the idea that his friend now fell into that category of the injured. It was something that he knew could happen to anybody. He just never thought something like that would happen to someone he was close to. It was terrible when Sheen launched himself out to space but there was still hope that he was out there. Now it felt worse. All he could do was sit and watch as a machine did all the work. It was scary to look at and think he might not come back to life.

As he slowly moved down the hallway, Jimmy saw his dad walking out a door on the other end. After him was a bald man in a wheelchair who looked physically ill. Jimmy assumed this was the friend of his father's who had stomach cancer. The person pushing the wheelchair turned out to be Cindy. Made sense to him since she was working at the hospital. Jimmy figured she was probably checking on the man's diet or something like that. It seemed like her first day was getting to her. She looked really tired from the distance.

Suddenly Jimmy's phone began to vibrate again. It was Carvey. Tired of dealing with it, Jimmy simply turned off his phone and put it away.

* * *

Later that night Jimmy was alone at JT's bar. He was drinking a Tokyo Tea and doing some heavy reflecting on his friendship with Sheen. After hearing what Carl had to say about the night before, Jimmy couldn't help but feel guilty. He knew it was a freak accident but it wasn't what he felt guilty about. He felt responsible for how Sheen's entire life turned out. It sounded like Sheen almost wished he was never found from that planet. A part of him began to think that it would've been best if they never even bothered to look for him. He immediately retracted the thought. Jimmy knew that if he didn't go look for him that his own life would have potentially been worse than it was now. He knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he just sat back and did nothing. But Jimmy knew it wasn't truly his fault. He left the note after all. But then again it was still his responsibility to make sure no one could enter the lab. The thought was mess. He couldn't rationalize it no matter how hard he tried.

Jimmy was at the edge of being drunk when suddenly he saw Cindy take a seat at the bar a few seats away from his. She didn't even acknowledge him.

Cindy waved over to J.T. the bartender. "Could I get an appletini please?"

"You got it." J.T. replied.

Jimmy saw Cindy appeared confident but he knew her well enough. He could see she was very tired and worn out as if something was bothering her. Jimmy's rational side figured she was just as upset about Sheen as everyone else. She was the one that called them over after all. That combined with the busy day that she probably had it must've been a stressful day for her. That was what Jimmy's rational side noticed. Unfortunately the very strong Tokyo Tea had temporarily knocked out Jimmy's rational thoughts as his mean drunk side was beginning to take over. That drunk side was beginning to get angry over the fact that Cindy didn't even notice him or say hello.

"Vortex." He said with some drunken disgust.

Cindy turned her head surprised to see him. "Neutron… Hey. Is everything okay?" She asks with sympathy.

"Like you care." Jimmy turned away and went back to his drink.

"I do care, Jimmy. I'm sorry I had to tell you guys. I can't believe he's in there right now."

"Yeah right." Jimmy said condescendingly.

Cindy obviously began to look upset. "I do care. He's my friend too."

Jimmy calls J.T. over. "Hey, can I get another Tokyo Tea?"

"Are you sure you haven't had enough?" Cindy looked at Jimmy concerned.

Jimmy turned to her right away with a dead serious look on his face. "Fuck you, bitch! I'll have whatever I want."

Cindy was shocked by that remark. Around the bar patrons heard Jimmy concerned that something could happen. Cindy finally responded. "Excuse me?"

Jimmy exploded. "What the fuck do you want with me, Vortex? Did you come back home and get a job just to rub it all in that you finally caught up with me on an academic level and now that you have a real job you're ahead of me? Okay, fine. You win. You can stop now. Go back to Stanford while the rest of us deal with our real world problems."

Cindy's confusion began to heat up into full blown anger. "Really, you think I'm here just to get even with you? That's what you think this is about? Is your ego so big that even when one of _our_ best friends is in the hospital you think the situation revolves around you?"

Jimmy turned away and focused on his empty drink, playing with the straw. "Can you come up with a better insult than attacking my brain or my ego?"

"How fucking dare you, Neutron!? How dare you imply that I don't care? That I'm only here to beat you down? You don't think I feel just as horrible about Sheen? You think I enjoy seeing others suffer?"

"You sure as hell tried your hardest when we were kids."

Cindy took a moment before she exploded in his face. "FUCK YOU, NEUTRON! You think you're the only one that's going through a hard time? Go fuck yourself!"

J.T. interrupted. "Alright guys, I'm sorry but I can't serve you anymore. You have to take this outside."

"You're kicking me out?" Jimmy looked drunkenly confused.

"You're drink is on the house, Jimmy. Now please, can you two leave? We have people here trying to have a good time."

Cindy immediately stormed out angry. Jimmy sat there processing everything he just said.

Jimmy looked back up to J.T. "Alright, can I just get a quick glass of water and then I'm out of here?"

J.T. poured the glass. Jimmy took out one of his pills and drank the water.

* * *

A sober Jimmy walked out of the bar aware of everything he had just said to Cindy. He knew he really dug himself into some deep shit. Catching her naked was bad enough, but calling her a 'bitch' in public was unforgivable. He was the biggest piece of shit breathing in Retroville and he knew it.

Cindy's car was parked along the sidewalk. Jimmy saw her and wanted to apologize right away. As he moved closer he could see from behind Cindy that she was crying. Jimmy slows down until he ultimately stops walking. As much as he wanted to apologize he knew he was the last person she wanted to see at that moment. He was close enough that he could hear her crying. It wasn't a pretty sound. Feeling extremely guilty, Jimmy turned away and walked towards his hover car.

The hover car was driving on autopilot with Jimmy slouched over in the front seat. No matter how hard he tried to get over it he still felt horrible about what he said to Cindy. He felt responsible for Sheen to some degree and his outburst just made it worse at a time when they all need each other.

He pulled out his phone and turned it on. There were many missed calls from Carvey. Jimmy composed a text.

_Sorry. Busy day. You need me tomorrow?_

He sent it and then began to compose a new text for Carl. Jimmy stayed frozen as he thought about what it was that he wanted to type. Suddenly he received a message from Carvey.

_No. Come in Thursday._

Giving up on texting Carl, Jimmy put the phone away.

* * *

The next morning the sun shined directly in front of Jimmy's face. He slowly got up and walked towards the window. He grabbed the string to close the blinds but before doing so looked across the street. Cindy was combing her hair, getting ready to go to work. She didn't seem heartbroken, but naturally he assumed she just put the events of the previous evening behind her. She was always good at concealing any emotional pain. Not wanting to pain himself of the thought any longer, Jimmy closed the blinds and fell back to bed. Unfortunately he was wide awake now. His self pity did a good job of keeping him awake.

Minutes later Jimmy's phone vibrated. He looked over at his desk giving it a seconds thought of whether he had the will to go over and look. He figured it could only be bad news at this point. He thought he might get a text saying Sheen's dead or Carl might shame him for what he last said to Cindy. Being that the two were the closest friends in town it made sense that she probably called him and told him everything that happened. He really wasn't looking forward to having that conversation.

Tired of thinking about it, Jimmy quickly got up and walked over to his desk. It was Carvey.

_Can you come in right now?_

Jimmy began tying.

_Omw_

He got a response.

_Hurry up._

Jimmy went downstairs fully dressed with his lab coat on. Hugh was in the kitchen eating pancakes. He was dressed in the same sweater vest he always wore.

Hugh looked over to Jimmy giving him the happy but inauthentic fatherly love smile. "Morning Jimbo." He casually said.

"Morning." Jimmy replied.

"Hey, listen. The dishwasher needs to be loaded. Can you do that before you go out?"

Jimmy quietly groaned to himself. He knew this seemingly harmless request had the potential to escalate to ridiculous proportions. It happened before. Many times. "Godard has it under control." Jimmy responded.

"I know Godard can do it but I'm asking you to do it right now."

Jimmy grabbed an apple from the fridge. "Why don't you do it. You're perfectly capable of getting up."

Hugh began getting agitated. "I'm a guest in this house. If this was a 5 star hotel it would be spotless right now."

Jimmy was too jaded by these pointless arguments. As complicated as their relationship was he was always nice to his dad. He didn't have any problems with his parents splitting up. He just accepted that something happened and it wasn't any of his business. He didn't ever try to start an argument with his dad on purpose but he wasn't ever going to bow down to his requests when they made no logical sense to him.

Jimmy began to rationalize. "Dad, this isn't a hotel. It's a normal, lived-in home. The sink isn't even that full, it'll get done later."

"Right, a normal home." Hugh continued to protest. "You see, this is why I left. Your mother stopped keeping the house clean."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Jimmy asked annoyed.

"Why do you always have to be so vulgar. You know I didn't raise you to be this way."

"It's called adult language. I'm an adult."

Hugh raised his voice. "Your mom really didn't raise you right. You're vulgar. You're lazy, you can't even clean after yourself.-"

Jimmy interrupted defensively. "I built a dog that clean up the house for goodness sake!" He said making sure he didn't curse.

"Yes, you never could do anything on your own. You always have to depend on technology."

"Jesus, I'm not gonna have this conversation right now. I'm going to work." Jimmy began to walk away.

"Oh fine. Go to your low paying job where you cannot even make a living for yourself!" Hugh yelled out.

Jimmy walked out the door and quickly got into his car.

* * *

As he drove over to work his morning confrontation with Hugh was on his mind. It was always the dishwasher that would spark a pointless argument between them. It had been that way since middle school. Over the years Jimmy figured it was just a phase he was going through being a teenager and all but Hugh was still able to push his buttons. It made no sense to him why he was so obsessed with him doing the dishes. Hugh would always complain about doing all the work and would criticise Jimmy for not doing the dishes. Now it made more sense to believe Hugh just changed along the way and it wasn't just some phase for Jimmy. He never asked the details of the divorce but he knew it had something to do with Hugh's current wife as they quickly married after the divorce was finalized.

Hugh was just an asshole, plain and simple. It was difficult to accept because he had fond memories of his dad growing up. Maybe he was a nice guy back then and things just happened to go wrong at some point.

Jimmy's thoughts then went back to the night before with Cindy, something he just couldn't forgive himself for. He felt like such an asshole. Having just had a small argument with his dad helped him connect the dots. That was likely a trait passed down from his father. Jimmy Neutron was a narcissistic asshole by DNA. The thought depressed him but the more he thought about it the more it made sense. Maybe his fights with Cindy weren't just some cute albeit dangerous way of getting her attention. Maybe he really was as stuck up as she always said he was.

Jimmy pulled up in the parking lot outside the lab. He really didn't know how to feel. He didn't want to accept that he was an asshole. He knew he could fix his behavior if he tried. He knew he could apologize to Cindy. But none of that would matter if the people around him didn't take him back. His thoughts were all over the place. What it all boiled down to was that Jimmy didn't think he was a good person. He was angry with the world and couldn't find the will to do anything about it. He wanted to fix that but didn't know how.

Suddenly a text came in from Carvey.

_Don't come in today. Come in tomorrow at the regular time._

Jimmy read the text frustrated. He began typing _I'm here_. His thumb hovered over the send button. He really didn't care to go in to the lab today anyway. Instead Jimmy deleted the text and drove off.


	13. Chapter 13-More Bad News

Back at the hospital, Jimmy rode the elevator up to the 4th floor. The doors slid open for Jimmy to see his mom working at the front desk. Ae he approached Jimmy leaned on the counter when Judy acknowledged his presence.

"Hey." Judy said surprised. "Your dad said you'd be working today."

"No, I got called out. I'm working tomorrow. Is dad here?"

"No." Judy answered. "He called me right after you left." Her tone suggested what the purpose of Hugh's call was. That was clear to Jimmy.

"I didn't argue back." Jimmy quickly responded defensively.

"I know. I know." Judy said with understanding. "I know he can be difficult."

"Yeah, well it wasn't always like that." Jimmy said with a hint of frustration.

Judy took a second to calmly respond. "I know, sweetie. I know he can be unreasonable when he's here."

"I just don't get why he has to get mad at me over the most useless sh- things." He quickly caught himself from cursing in front of his mother. "A job, I get that but a dishwasher?"

Judy once again took a second before she responded in a calm manner, this time a bit more sad than before. "I wouldn't take it too seriously. He's not angry with you."

Jimmy was still slightly on edge. "Then who's he mad at? You?"

"No, I think he's mad at himself."

Jimmy took a second to process that. "Did um… Is he trying to come back?" Jimmy asked with curiosity.

"No." Judy instantly replied. "At least he hasn't said anything yet. I can tell he's trying to apologize but he hasn't asked me."

"Would you let him come back?" Jimmy asked curious but hopeful. He liked the idea of his family going back to the way that it was. Of course such an idea was unrealistic.

"No." Judy said calmly, blunt and honestly. "I wouldn't, no."

"But you wouldn't have to be working as much if you did-"

Judy chuckled a bit "I'm not going to get back with your father just because it's less of a financial burden."

"Look I don't care if he's mad at me. I just want to see you happy again."

Judy interrupted. "Sweetie, I still care for your father. I really do. I'm surprised we've managed to get along since he remarried. But your father now is not the same person I fell in love with. I think we're all better off starting something new instead of trying to recapture what we had. He might be unhappy with his family in Florida right now. Then again he hasn't told me anything so maybe not. But I've moved on and I think I'm in a better place than if I let him come back."

Jimmy looked down a little more sad and deflated. With how crappy a week he's been having he'd been hoping for some good news (or at least what he'd have considered good news regarding his parents). "Hey." Judy brought Jimmy's head back up. "I'm fine here. I'm where I'm needed. At first it was taking care of you and your father. Now it's here helping every patient that comes in. I'm where I need to be. Don't worry about me." Jimmy let all of his mother's words soak in. She let go of his chin and sat back in her chair. "You just have to worry about yourself and where you need to be."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I know what you're going to say. I need to get a real job."

"Well, yes you do need to do something productive." Judy said with her comforting motherly smile. "But for now your friend needs you."

"Yeah." Jimmy said quietly, bummed at the thought of the very reason he came by to begin with.

"Go ahead now, I have work to do." Judy said.

"Okay." Jimmy got up from the counter. " Have a good day, mom." He walked down the hallway.

"You too, sweetie." Judy responded.

* * *

Jimmy opened the door to Sheen's room. Carl was inside slouched over in a chair with a blanket wrapped around him. His eyes were completely bloodshot from being sleep deprived.

Carl looked over at Jimmy. "Hey, what's up?" He greeted him. Jimmy expected to get some form of silent treatment from Carl. He was sure Cindy told him about the stupid thing he said. But Carl didn't seem mad at all.

"Hey." Jimmy greeted back. "Did you sleep at all?"

"I tried. Your mom let me have a bed in an empty room but I just couldn't fall asleep. How about you? What did you do last night?"

She definitely didn't say anything to him. Jimmy was grateful. With all that was going on the last thing he needed was more drama. He knew he had to apologize to her in person the next time they met face to face. "I just had a few drinks last night." Jimmy pulled a seat for himself as Carl responded with a non-inquisitive "hmm."

After sitting there for a couple more minutes all that was on Jimmy's mind was Cindy. He felt bad given he was supposed to be worried for his friend but that was what was on his mind.

Jimmy opened his mouth after 2 minutes of silence. "Hey can I ask you something?" Carl turned his head towards Jimmy. "Um… does Cindy look okay to you?"

"What do you mean?" Carl asked.

"I mean does she seem angry or sad about anything? I know yesterday was her first day-"

"You caught on?" Carl interrupted.

"What?" Jimmy asked confused.

Carl turns away. "Never mind."

"What?" Jimmy was even more confused. "Is she okay?"

Carl turned back to Jimmy. Being so sleep deprived he was more susceptible to spilling out information. "Look if I tell you then you can't say anything. She doesn't want word getting around." Jimmy listened closely. Carl took a second before saying what was up. "Her dad has cancer."

Jimmy took a few seconds to process that. "Like… What kind of-"

"Stomach cancer." Jimmy sat there stunned as he was processing everything. "Doctors gave him 6 months. That's why she came home. She's spending as much time as she can. She doesn't want anyone to know. Though I figured your mom or even your dad was gonna tell you."

Jimmy was all sorts of confused. He suddenly realized who the old high school friend his dad talked about was. He barely knew her father. He thought her parents divorced a while back. But suddenly Jimmy started feeling like a bigger asshole for what he did the night before.

"Just don't say anything, okay?" Carl asked for confirmation.

"Sure." Jimmy said still taking it all in. He finally pulled himself together. "I won't tell. Besides we both know I'm better at keeping secrets than you."

Carl chuckled. "Yeah, that's still true."

Both of them laughed a little but it quickly faded as the two moved their eyes back to Sheen's bed.

Jimmy's phone suddenly began to vibrate. He pulled out his phone. The caller ID was marked _Neato Douchebag. _He declined the call and put his phone back in his pocket. About 30 seconds later it vibrates one time. Jimmy figured it's just another voicemail.

* * *

Hours later Jimmy is alone in the hallway of the hospital wing. getting some coffee for Carl and himself. Silence goes away when a door 50 feet away from him opens. Jimmy looks over and see's Cindy, her dad, and his dad leaving the room. Cindy's dad is in a wheelchair currently being pushed by her. Jimmy only makes eye contact with his dad. Hugh nods hello while trying to hold some form of a friendly smile. Jimmy nods back and goes back to filling his cup.

"Mr. Neutron, do you mind taking him back to his room? There's something I need to take care of." Jimmy heard Cindy say. He knew what was likely coming his way and he dreaded the thought.

"Sure, go ahead." Hugh replied.

"Thank you. I'll see you in a bit, dad."

"Okay." Cindy's dad unenthuasisatically replied.

Jimmy heard Cindy's footsteps getting closer to him. The last thing he wanted to do was have her yell at him but he knew it was best to apologize as soon as possible. As long as he spoke first he figured he'd be fine.

Cindy's footsteps faded. Jimmy figured she'd gotten quite close. "Jimmy." She quietly said his name.

Jimmy took a quick deep breath before turning around, short enough Cindy not to notice. "Cindy, hey look I'm-"

"I need to talk to you and Carl." Cindy said.

Jimmy kept talking as though she hadn't interrupted. "About last night I'm really-"

"I know you were drunk." She said bluntly. "It's okay. Now let's go."

Cindy started walking. Jimmy stood still for a second as he continued to process what happened. When she was 15 feet away he grabbed both coffees and made his way towards her.

As they continued walking Jimmy thought about what just happened. She was still clearly mad at him to some degree. She hardly seemed forgiving but was at least merciful. Maybe for now that was good enough. Given he found out about her father's cancer it seemed now wasn't the best time to beg her for forgiveness.

Jimmy followed behind as Cindy opened the door. Carl got up from his slouched position and sat up straight. "Hey." He acknowledged Cindy.

Cindy looked to Jimmy. "Can you shut the door?" Carl noted the seriousness in Cindy's voice while Jimmy shut the door.

Carl stood up. "What's going on?"

"Um…" Cindy took a second before talking. "Look, we might have a problem if Sheen doesn't get up soon." Carl and Jimmy leaned in. Cindy tried to collect herself. "God, where do I start… The problem is Sheen doesn't have any health insurance. The hospital got in touch with his family. His uncle should be able to make it in a few days but… anyway the problem is no one can afford to cover his bills. Without insurance it's a little tricky-"

Carl interrupted. "He's not getting kicked out, is he?"

"They can't legally do that." Jimmy pointed out.

"True, they can not do that while he's asleep." Cindy stated.

Carl breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright… Um, so what's the problem?"

Cindy clearly struggles to say this next thing. "As long as he's sleeping then they'll keep him here but after 30 days Sheen will be declared to be in PVS."

"What? What's that?" Carl asked confused.

"Persistent Vegetative State." Jimmy looked down as he responded depressingly,

Carl began to understand. "Wait. So what happens if-"

"They can pull the plug if he doesn't wake up in 30 days." Cindy said to be blunt.

Jimmy sat down letting the thought sink in. Carl began pacing through the room.

Suddenly Carl spoke up. "Wait, so if no one pays then they can pull the plug but if we pay then he'll be fine, right? I mean, how much is it?

Cindy struggled to deliver the bad news.

Carl spoke up. "Come on, Cindy. How much?"

Cindy still struggled but it finally came out. "$2,500 a day." Carl froze. Jimmy remained seated. Cindy quickly began to speak hastily. "But we don't know. Just because the hospital can do it doesn't mean they will. As long as no other patient needs the room he should be fine. That's what they tell me. And maybe his uncle can cover it. Who knows, he could wake up tomorrow-"

Carl calmed Cindy down. "You're right, it could be nothing. We have plenty of time to figure this out." Cindy clearly felt horrible for giving them this news but Carl gave her a hug for comfort. "We have time." Carl broke the hug. "Thank you for the heads up. We'll figure something out, okay."

Cindy nodded. "I'm sorry to tell you."

"Don't beat yourself up. It's been a rough couple of days for everybody. I'm glad I know now instead of later." Carl looks over at Jimmy still sitting frozen in place.

"Okay. I'm sorry I have to get back to work." Cindy apologized.

"Don't apologize. Do what you have to do, okay." Cindy nodded. "Okay, I'll see you later."

Cindy turned away from Carl and saw Jimmy still frozen in place. She quickly and quietly left the room.

Carl looked over at Jimmy concerned. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Jimmy responded.

Carl was surprised he answered back. "We'll be fine. We have a month to figure things out."

"I know. That's not what scares me." Jimmy replied.

"What does?" Carl asked.

"Even if he's still alive and we manage to pay the bills on time, the thought that he might never wake up from a vegetative state just became very real." Jimmy broke from his frozen stance at the end of that statement. His voice trembled slightly and his face twitched as he was talking. A tear slipped out and he quickly wiped it. He turned to look at Carl. "If that's the case then is it better if we pull the plug?"


	14. Chapter 14-I've had Enough

The next day Jimmy went to work. The quantity of bad news was so overwhelming he was practically numb to everything around him. Even though he could've called out of work, Jimmy went to the lab anyway. He had a perfectly reasonable excuse, but he needed something to distract him from everything that was happening and keep him productive. As long as Carvey didn't somehow make things unnecessarily frustrating then he would be fine.

As Jimmy walked down the office towards the lab a new but familiar face was standing against the wall browsing through an iPhone. The professionally dressed man looked to be around Jimmy's age. It wasn't until the bucked teeth were in plain sight that he recognized Eustace Strych.

"Strych?" Jimmy called out surprised.

Eustace looked up at Jimmy. "Hello James. I heard you worked here." Eustace said in his posh British accent.

"What're you doing here?" Jimmy asked suspiciously.

"Relax James. I come in peace. I'm only in the country for the holiday. My uncle is showing me his latest investment."

"That's right. Donald." Jimmy remembered.

"He always was a bloody wanker. I truly am shocked you are working with that imbecile Carvey. He has my uncle in a scam."

Even though he agreed Jimmy didn't say anything. It was awkward seeing a former rival, particularly even more so since he tried to destroy him back in the day. "So what've you been doing?" Jimmy finally asked.

"Oh, living in my penthouse flat in London. Investing money. Making lots of it-"

Eustace was interrupted by the sound of broken glass coming from the lab. They both reacted to the sound and look at towards the open door. "FUCK!" They both heard Allen yell.

Jimmy immediately ran to the lab. Eustace walked in the same direction to see what was going on.

Jimmy got to the door and saw the glass maze was completely shattered. Next to it some hydrofluoric acid was melting through the floor. The hole on the floor was expanding. Allen was holding a metal prod and poking it into Jerry's cage.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Jimmy yelled at Allen.

Allen turned around. "The fucking mouse just melted the case!"

"Oh, this will be great for your career James." Jimmy turned around to see Eustace at the door holding his iPhone, recording the whole thing.

Jimmy slammed the door in Eustace's face. He turned back around to see Allen shoving the prod wherever he could. "Stop! Stop!" Allen continued shoving it all around. Jimmy grabbed Allen and pulled him out of the way.

"What the fuck?" Allen yelled out.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy yelled back.

"That fucking mouse is crazy. I swear it's trying to kill me."

Jimmy pointed to the floor completely furious. "Why do you have hydrofluoric acid in here?!"

"Jerry was getting used to getting shocked all the time so I figured I needed something else." Allen casually replied like it was no big deal.

Jimmy's jaw dropped. He took a few seconds before finally responding. "What the are you trying to do? Burn him?" He yelled back.

"Hey, you weren't here when we called you to come in. You don't know what we've been doing."

"We'll talk about this later. Where's Carvey?"

"He's out with the client."

Jimmy took initiative. "Okay. Right now I need you to call 911 and go to each floor of the offices below. Make sure no one is hurt." Jimmy then grabbed the notebook to see what had happened the past few days. Unsurprisingly no notes were taken.

"Is hurt from what?" Allen genuinely asked not seeing what the big deal was.

Jimmy exploded. "WE'RE ON THE 4TH FLOOR AND WE HAVE ACID BURNING THROUGH THE BUILDING! PEOPLE ARE WORKING BELOW US! NOW GO WARN THEM BEFORE SOMEONE GETS BURNED AND WE GET SUED! BETTER YET DO IT SO THAT YOU DON'T GO TO JAIL FOR CARELESSLY MISUSING CHEMICALS! GET OUT OF HERE!"

Jimmy pushed Allen out the door and slammed it shut behind him. He looked to Jerry's cage. The mouse popped it's head out for a brief second before seeing Jimmy and hiding back in the barn house. Jimmy furiously went up to the cage and locked it so he couldn't escape.

* * *

The next 6 hours were spent talking to the police as firefighters contained the situation. Thankfully no one was hurt. Allen had left before anyone showed up leaving Jimmy to handle the mess on his own. Carvey hadn't come back, but Jimmy updated him via text as the situation played out. Carvey had yet to respond.

After the chaos, Jimmy sat in the lab. The hole on the floor was plugged for now. He still needed to sweep up the broken glass maze but didn't have the energy to care. All he thought about was that this was the last place he wanted to be. He should've spent the day at the hospital.

A squeak travels it's way to Jimmy's ear. Jimmy turns his head to see Jerry staring at him. Jerry motions his eyes over to the fridge. His communicating indicates he's hungry. This new gesture doesn't surprise Jimmy. He was jaded and figured it's a product of the glial cells.

Jimmy lazily went to the fridge and pulled out a bag of cheese blocks with less than a handful left. He opened the cage and set the handful down.

Jimmy took a seat across the lab. He was really frustrated over where things were in his life. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He shouldn't be wasting his talent on working for some hack who didn't know what he was doing. Those were the thoughts going through his big waste-of-talent brain. With all the stress he had, Jimmy shut his brain off and just looked at Jerry eating his meal. Jerry was eating quietly and calmly, closer to a human than a wild mouse (again a side effect of the cells injected into his brain. Jimmy could tell from across the room that he was looking at him. Maybe it was a factor of overly cuteness from the tiny mouse but Jimmy felt he was getting a look of empathy. He knew it was crazy and figured he just saw it that way because that was what he needed. Either way he back smiled a little. Jerry stopped eating. He picked up a block of cheese and carried it over to the end of the cage before the glass. Jerry set it down and crawled back to his spot on all fours. He began eating his cheese again and looked back at Jimmy. Jimmy understood that the piece was being offered to him.

Suddenly the front office door slammed open. Jimmy got up to see who's there.

Carvey enters the lab before Jimmy leaves. He comes in smiling hold a glass box of ants. "I have great news."

Jimmy looks at him shocked. It's almost as if Carvey had no idea what happened. "You do know what happened today, right?"

Carvey set the box down. "Don't worry. I apologized to our investors. They're hiring someone to clean this whole thing up. Listen, we're not working on mice anymore. Clearly that's failed." Jimmy was shocked at what he was hearing. "We're going to start working on ants. They're smaller and if you control an army of them you could get more done. I need you to turn the serum injection into a spray so they can breathe it in." Jimmy just stared blankly. "Oh, and dispose of the mouse please."

Neither of them saw it but Jerry ran into his barn to hide. Carvey's words angered Jimmy but he continued to hold it back. "Dispose of him?"

"Or just let it go. Whatever. As long as I'm no longer responsible for it." Carvey answered without care.

"If I let him go then he'll probably die out there. I doubt he still had those survival instincts since you've scared the living daylights out of him."

"Look, that mouse has been unresponsive and wasted a lot of my time. It won't respond to pain, it fights back. No matter how many more injections I gave it it would behave more violently." Learning this angered Jimmy more. "By the way, are you sure you didn't mess up on the serum somehow-"

Jimmy interrupted furiously. "You gave him more injections!?"

Carvey was slightly taken aback at Jimmy's insubordination. "Well yeah, he wasn't developing fast enough."

Jimmy exploded. "What's the matter with you? You don't make him even smarter and then torture him!"

"Well it definitely didn't make him smarter-"

Jimmy interrupted again "And why are you using acid to tame a mouse?"

"Okay Mr. Ethics." Carvey responded annoyed.

"Ethics? It's not just about whether or not it's ethical to do what we've been doing here but about letting an inexperienced kid like Allen handle that stuff. And also the fact that there's three floors below where people work and thankfully weren't hurt."

Carvey began to raise his voice. "I told you it's being cleaned up."

"And now ants? Seriously how can you even monitor those? Are you going to shrink down to their size?"

"That's not even possible." Carvey said condescendingly. Jimmy knew better of course. "Look Neutron, I don't think you're being a team player here. Now if you want to stay here and be a team player then you're going to do this and you're going to get rid of that fucking rat in that box or you're out of here."

Jimmy quickly acted on impulse. "You know what, I don't want to work here. You don't even pay me what I earn anyway."

"Well you're not getting paid for today either. And the whole time you've done nothing but screw up. I'm surprised I kept you here this long. Now get out of my lab before I call the cops. Good luck getting a reference now. Your life in this industry is over." Carvey walked over to Jerry's cage.

"Oh shut up you useless hack! You don't even know what you're doing."

Carvey exploded as he opened the cage. "Well you'll see when I succeed in my plan and animals and insects all over the world become members of society! They'll have every single dead end job on the planet and you won't even be able to make burgers at MacDonalds! You'll be a nobody Neutron!" Carvey picked up the barn in the cage and threw it on the ground. Jerry was exposed and ran from Carvey's hand but couldn't get away. Carvey grabbed him and carried him over to the window. "And when you're out there alone on the street begging for a meal just remember it was all because you couldn't do something as simple as killing a rat for the sake of science."

Jimmy laughed in his head at the absurdity of Carvey's words. Suddenly Jerry took matters into his own hands and gnawed off a large piece of Carvey's skin. Carvey screamed in pain and dropped the mouse. Jerry quickly ran out of the room. Jimmy tried to catch him but he was too fast.

"Call 911!" Carvey screamed in pain. Jimmy looked back at Carvey. It surely must've been a painful bite but he wasn't bleeding too much. At least not enough that a hospital would have to treat the wound. He'd have to get it checked but it was a wound Carvey could handle on his own. Jimmy just left the lab not caring to look back. He was finally done dealing with that asshole.

* * *

It started raining looking like the beginnings of a thunderstorm. As Jimmy left the building it began to really dawn on him what he had just done. Carvey's lab was the least of his worries right now but he just let go of the only reference he had that kept him active in the scientific field for the last 3 years. If he wasn't sure about his future before he definitely had no idea where to take it now.

Jerry was on the sidewalk next to the building. Across the street he saw Jimmy get into his hover car. Jerry ran up to the car and hid underneath it. As the engine started, Jerry jumped up and was hanging on for his life.

Jerry found his way inside and hid on the back seat. As Jimmy was driving home he continued to think of his future, his friends, his family. Where everything in general would be going. It frustrated him that nothing was clear and he had no idea where life would take him. It wasn't fair. Sheen shouldn't be in the hospital. Cindy shouldn't be losing her father. His mom shouldn't be working all day and winding up alone.

A bunch of worries were scattered all over his brain but at that moment what really pissed him off was that he tried to do the right thing and yet an idiot like Carvey had the power and there was nothing he could do. All his life whenever he tried to do something right bad things would happen. He was responsible for so much of the destruction Retroville endured when he was a kid. He felt like a failure who constantly destroyed stuff. Even when he went away to Harvard around a crowd he expected to be at his academic level he was still the odd one out. That was all he ever was and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get them to accept him. All those years of failing and not fitting in made Jimmy restless. It was difficult for him to care about anything other than his close friends, and now it seemed like he was going to lose them. Cindy would hate him forever for what he said and Sheen might never wake up.

Jimmy was sick of it. He had enough. He floored the gas pedal and switched the car to hover mode. The sound of the car engine changed to one of a jet. It took off at the end of the road just before he had to make a turn. The rain began to pour harder. Jimmy revved it harder and went straight up. Jerry fell onto the back window. Lightning strikes close by. The dark cloud rumbled before them. Jimmy went straight into the cloud. It was pure blackness inside. The hovercar made it through just before he could see lightning flash behind him.. Suddenly Jimmy's alarm went off along with the computer flashing _Warning! Unable To Withstand High Altitude! _The beeping went fast as the car reached 50,000 feet. Jimmy pushed higher with determination. 65,000 feet. They were very far above the rain storm now. The screen flashed a new warning. _Warning! Vehicle Cannot Fly Past This Point! _Jimmy ignored it and kept pushing. The beeping went faster. Jerry was laying flat on the rear window. He looked down at how high they were above the clouds. Jimmy was beginning to feel lightheaded and on the verge of passing out. He had a tight grip on the wheel until it suddenly jerked forward. The hover car stopped and leveled out quickly. _Emergency Auto Pilot Activated _the screen read. Jimmy read it before passing out. The car smoothly flew back down towards Retroville. _Emergency Treatment Being Prepared In Laboratory_.

* * *

Jimmy woke up about 5 minutes later. He was still in the car, a little lightheaded and dizzy. He realized the hover car was no longer in the air. Once he saw he was going down an elevator shaft he remembered the emergency procedure he installed on the car. "God damn it." He groaned.

The elevator stopped. "Welcome home, Jimmy." A familiar voice said through the hover car's speakers. The doors opened. The first thing Jimmy saw were flashing red lights coming towards him. Jimmy covered his eyes. It was a medical robot he had built when he was at Harvard assisting the EMTs for school credit. Unfortunately it wasn't well received there.

The robot ripped the door of the hover car off. "You have experienced an accident." The robot reached out it's hands to carry Jimmy.

Jimmy leaned away as the robot tried to grab him. "Remote override 1138!" He yelled out before the robot could touch him.

The robot froze. It then shut off it's lights and retracted. "Happy to assist you sir." The robot turned and walked away down the hanger.

Jimmy had used his hanger as storage over the years with all of his old inventions lined up against the walls. The robot took it's place against the wall and powered down.

The lab had been shut down for years. There was dust all everywhere. Now that the incident in the sky had turned on the emergency power everything was functioning like normal. He could see the dust disappearing across from him. It was the nanobots that were vacuuming. He had made some new nanobots in middle school to handle maintenance of the lab. It turned out not to be a catastrophe.

Jimmy looked down at the rows of inventions that he had created. There was the shrink ray which he remembered using to sneak out on the opening night of Retroland. The hologram CHIP which just sat around doing nothing. Next to CHIP was the girl-eating plant which was still alive after all these years. It certainly was a good thing that plant never saw light outside the lab. The cheese ray, the hypno ray (which was broken), his old Jet Pack from elementary school. Everything was here. He remembered thinking all of these things would be great for society. He would daydream about being honored as one of the most important people of the 21st century. Unfortunately the reality was that his inventions upset people more than they helped them. He saw his first rocket made of garbage bins at the end of the hanger. He remembered using it to send out the message to space but the landing cost so much property damage his parents struggled to pay it off. Fortunately the BTSO covered the rest of the payments for him after his first assignment with them. And next to the crummy rocket was the one he customized from Retroland and went after the Yokians. It was a defining moment for his class as everyone went to save their parents, but it didn't changed the fact that it was his fault to begin with. That final punch in the gut was what he had recovered from the rocket that Sheen took off in and resulted in the worst year of his life. Sheen's current situation felt much worse now than when he disappeared. Jimmy was undoubtedly a unique mind capable of doing great things, but most of what he did brought problems to everybody else.

Jimmy started the engine and slowly drove through the hanger up to the decommissioned ship next to his rocket. It was the ship that he took to his trip to mars with the gang. It was slowly being taken apart for parts. Jimmy picked up the cutting lazer right beneath is and cut out the exterior metal and glass framed perfectly to replace the door.

Jerry was still hiding in the car looking in awe of what Jimmy had accomplished over the years. This place and these inventions got him curious as to why Jimmy was wasting his time with Carvey. Aside from being the only human that was nice to him, Jerry recognized Jimmy was the smartest and only capable of the bunch.

Jerry saw Jimmy carrying parts to the trunk. He got up and ran to the drivers seat to not be seen. Since Jimmy wasn't looking he jumped out the car and went to hide under the old rocket. Jimmy put the parts in the trunk and went back to start the car.

The hangar doors opened to the main room of his lab. Before the doors were wide open, Goddard ran through to check on Jimmy's condition. He had been alerted of the incident through Vox.

Goddard arrived next to where Jimmy's door should be. He immediately opened his screen. _Are you okay? What happened?_

"I'm fine, boy. It was just a violent thunderstorm that messed with the car."

_Why were you flying?_

Jimmy lied. "I just felt like going for a ride. I needed some space. Can you do me a favor and get the new door pressed? The medic-bot just ruined my old one."

Goddard quickly nodded and ran into the lab. Jimmy drove the car through. As the doors started closing, Jerry quickly crawled towards them. Though the doors weren't moving that fast, Jerry's small size still slowed him down. He finally made it through intact at the last second before the doors shut on him.

Jimmy got out of the car. He was still a little overwhelmed by nostalgia. The dust in the lab had been cleaned up since his arrival. Although instead of thinking about his inventions he thought back to his friends. The lab wasn't just a place for Jimmy to work on his inventions. They would all hang out down there. It was home to every one of them: Carl, Sheen, Cindy, and Libby. All of them had been down there to help Jimmy work on an experiment or fix a problem. As they all went to jr. high it became a designated hangout spot. There would be video game and movie nights, that one time the boys experimented with alcohol for the first time and found that Carl's allergies wouldn't allow him to drink. There was also that first sexual experience between him and Cindy that they never told anyone. They wouldn't do intercourse since they were too young but they settled on oral since they were curious. They both acted like it wasn't a big deal and never did it again, but Jimmy played with his right hand more often after that day. The lab was filled with memories of growing up with his friends. It was having his friends around that inspired him to work despite always ruining everything. It made him feel happy to think about it, but he cut it short when he started thinking about Sheen and Cindy's dad among other things. He had no problem accepting that those days of childhood innocence were behind him, but feeling the reality of it was different.

"Hey, Goddard." Jimmy said to his best invention. Goddard turned to him. "Do you mind working on it. I need to get some rest and it's been a long day." The mechanical canine nodded seeing his master needed a break. "Thanks boy."

Jimmy left the lab dwelling on the past. Goddard pressed a new door and soldered it in using his extensions. Jerry scoped the entire lab. The computer screen was the main thing that had his attention. Once Goddard was done he left the lab. The hovercar took off on it's own into the hanger elevator and went outside to the driveway. The power in the lab was still on. The experimented mouse was alone.

Jerry went straight for the computer. He jumped on the keyboard and the screen powered on. He looked at the desktop programs and saw one that said "Inventions". He went to the arrow keys to highlight the file and jumped on the enter key when he got there. All the information about each invention, how they function, and how to operate them was available. The mouse began to study the info. It was gonna be a long night.


	15. Chapter 15-Are We Okay

Jimmy spent the next few days sulking. On Friday he spent the entire day watching "House of Cards." He didn't really pay attention. He just thought about what he needed to do with his future. He knew he had to leave home, start living his life and become more self sufficient. It wasn't stress from his parents expectations that was getting to him but the stress he was putting on himself. Even though working at Carvey's lab didn't help him advance in his career, working there at least gave him a little comfort. It looked good on his resume that he was still active in the working field. Now that reference was gone and those 3 years were wasted.

His thoughts would go back to Sheen but he did his best to shut them out whenever they resurfaced. It's not that he didn't care, he just knew that there was nothing he could do about it and he didn't want an overload of stress. Going to the hospital was tough enough. He would be in the same emotional pain as everyone else. He figured it was better to try to live on for Sheen while he was asleep and makes sure he wakes up in a better world. But how?

Saturday, Jimmy's dad left for Florida to get back home for Christmas. He took Judy and Jimmy out to breakfast before he left. There wasn't anything substantial being said. It was just a friendly gathering. They chatted a bit and said goodbye when it was time to say goodbye. When Jimmy got back home he went back to Netflix and watched some Louis CK stand up. If there was anything that could distract him from his problems or to help make sense out of them it would be comedy.

At around 8pm the doorbell rang. Jimmy wasn't expecting anyone. He paused the show and went to open the door. It was Carl.

"Hey." Jimmy said.

"Hey. Is everything okay?" Carl asked. Jimmy stared blankly. "You haven't been at the hospital since Wednesday so I figured it was probably work or something with your dad." Jimmy hadn't told Carl or anyone else about what happened at Carvey's lab.

"No, I just didn't want to be there." Jimmy gave an exhausted response. "Sorry, it's just that-"

"No, no I get it. Don't worry. It's not like anyones mad at you or thinks you don't care. Everyone's handling it their own way."

Jimmy expected everyone to be mad at him for just about everything. It probably wasn't healthy and it just made things more stressful on himself by expecting to be hated. But Jimmy was relieved to see that Carl was understanding, that he had his back regardless. He was especially grateful to Cindy for not telling the whole world about his behavior earlier in the week. He knew he was lucky to have such good friends.

Carl continued. "Anyway tomorrow morning I'm going with my parents to stay with my grandparents for Christmas." Jimmy nodded already knowing that was the plan. "I just figured I'd say goodbye. I'll be back Thursday and but I gotta leave Friday morning so we can hang out one more night."

"Yeah, for sure." Jimmy agreed. "You know I can still fly you back. If you wanna stay a few days longer you can."

"No, I actually have to be back early on Saturday. Getting an early start on this new job."

"Well at least let me fly you there next Friday. You didn't buy the ticket yet did you?"

"I did, but I can cancel it. I'd appreciate the ride."

"Yeah, no problem." Silence hung in the air for a bit till Jimmy spoke again. "So did Sheen's uncle come by."

"Yeah, he let the family know. Though it's not easy for them to make it out here. His uncle had to leave after a day because he had a business trip he couldn't miss before Christmas."

"And the bills? What's the story with that?"

Carl took a second to answer that. "His uncle's going to try to find a way. He paid off the first couple of days. We're trying to work out a payment plan so we'll see. Hopefully it should be okay. But Sheen's gonna have a huge debt when he wakes up." They both just looked at each other not knowing what to say. Silence hanged in the air till Carl spoke again. "Man, this is most depressing Christmas ever." Carl joked lightly.

Jimmy chuckled a bit getting some relief from the entire situation.

"Anyway, can you do me a favor?" Carl asked.

"What is it?" Jimmy asked back curious.

"Cindy's parent's are going to the Bahama's for Christmas. It's bad timing but I guess this is the last chance her dad has to go flying incase he enters the next stage of the cancer. She didn't want to risk asking for time off right away so… Cindy's gonna be alone all week."

Carl was silent for a second. "Okay." Jimmy said waiting for him to get to the point.

"You know, I know she doesn't show it, you know how stubborn she is, but this is the worst I've seen her. It's a lot for us with Sheen but it's worse for her with her dad as well… Anyway can you just keep an eye on her. Be friendly. I know you two may not always see eye to eye but she's really beating herself up here."

"I can be nice. I don't have any problem with her."

"Well she told me that you two fought at JT's earlier this week."

Jimmy didn't let his face show his reaction but inside he was screaming that she told him. He immediately felt like an asshole. "She told you about that?"

"No, not really. I just suggested to her the same thing: that you two hang out this week. She just said she wasn't sure since she said you two had a fight. I didn't ask any more questions." Jimmy was relieved to hear that Cindy downplayed the story to Carl. "Anyway if you do see her just don't give her a hard time. That's all I ask."

"I don't plan to." Jimmy replied.

Carl nodded back. "Did she tell you about her dad?" He asked.

"No." Jimmy answered. "I doubt she will. It's like you said. She's stubborn. She's not about to complain about her problems. I'm not gonna bring it up if she doesn't want me to know. I'm sure she's sick of thinking about it anyways."

Carl nodded in agreement. A good 10 seconds of silence hanged in the air till Carl broke it again. "Well try to have a good Christmas."

"Yeah, you too." Jimmy responded back. "I'll see you Thursday?"

"Yeah." Carl answered.

Jimmy nodded back. "Have a good trip, man."

"Thanks. See ya." Jimmy closed the door as Carl walked away.

* * *

The next day Jimmy decided to go to the hospital that afternoon. Carl was there every day since his accident. Now that Carl was gone it just didn't feel right to leave Sheen in there by himself. Someone had to keep him company.

When he entered the room, Jimmy was surprised to find Cindy in the room. She was slouched over in the chair, half asleep. Her casual clothing suggested she wasn't at the hospital for work. As soon as Jimmy stepped in she opened her eyes, still half asleep.

Cindy recognized Jimmy at the door. "Hey." She sat up from the chair.

"Hey. Were you here all night?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah." Cindy yawned. She then got up from the chair and began to put on her coat. "I'm sorry. You can stay here."

"It's okay." Jimmy reacted surprised at how sudden she tried to take off. "You don't have to leave."

"No really. You can be alone with him if you want." She buttoned her coat and walked toward the door.

Jimmy stood in the way to stop her. "Look. About what happened in the bar, I just want to-"

Cindy interrupted. "It's okay. I know you were drunk."

"No, it's not okay. It was a shitty thing to do. I'm an asshole for it and I don't expect you to forgive me but I cannot handle the idea that it's going to be this awkward every time we meet." Cindy opens her mouth to interrupt but Jimmy stops her and continues his rant. "And I know what you're gonna say. I should've thought about that before I opened my big, fat mouth. And you're right. I was drunk, I said something mean and I shouldn't have. I wish I could take it back because it's not true. I have my own problems and I took them out on you and that's not fair." Cindy stood quietly as silenced hanged for a bit. Jimmy then continued his rant. "I mean I could say I'm sorry a bunch of times and you know that and… I guess the point is I just want to make sure that we're okay. Even if we can't be friends that we can at least talk to each other like normal people instead of having such a stupid thing I did hang over us for the rest of our lives." Jimmy took a deep breathe. He spoke slowly and softly. "Look I just don't want to hold grudges. And if you want to I have no control over that, that's up to you. At the very least I just wanted to tell you that. I know sorry doesn't mean much but I'm sorry for embarrassing you in public like that and making an ass out of myself."

Cindy stood there for a while. She was clearly dead tired that it was difficult for Jimmy to tell if anything he said got through to her. It was silent for a while as Cindy tried to think of how to respond. Jimmy stepped aside and began ranting again. "Unless we're already okay and you have to get somewhere and I'm stopping you from getting there then by all means-"

Cindy stopped him from ranting. "No, no. Really it's fine. It's fine." She was silent for a second as Jimmy awaited her response. "Um… okay." It was vague but Jimmy took the response to be affirmative. Cindy took off her coat and sat back down in the chair. She kept the coat on her lap. Jimmy took a seat in the other chair.

* * *

Cindy was so tired that she fell asleep after about 10 minutes when she sat back down. About three hours later she Jimmy saw she was drifting in and out of sleep. He figured she'd be fully awake soon. He left the room to get two cups of coffee. When he came back she was fully awake and accepted the coffee he offered. They then sat back down and just looked at Sheen.

The process of grieving frustrated Jimmy. When he was sulking alone it made sense to him in retrospect. He would need time to work things out on his own. But when other people were in the room he couldn't bare the silence. It just felt weird to be around other people and yet have no one communicating to each other. The beeping of the heart monitor was also beginning to drive him nuts.

Jimmy attempted to strike up a conversation. "So have you talked to Libby?"

His question pulled Cindy out of her thoughts. She turned to him making eye contact. "Um… yeah. she knows." She straight up answered.

"Okay." Jimmy looked away for a second. He then turned back to get a conversation going. "Is she going to come here?"

Cindy took a deep breathe. "I don't know. I told her not to."

"Why?" Jimmy asked surprised.

"She's on tour. Things are going great for her. I just don't want her to worry. It's not like any of us can do anything. All we can do is wait till he wakes up or… if there's a funeral she'd come but..." Jimmy looked down after hearing that word. Cindy spoke up "I'm sorry, it's a terrible thing to say."

"No, don't be." Jimmy comforted her. "I mean, we're all thinking it. I hope it doesn't happen obviously but… well, who knows, right?" Cindy lightly nodded. They both turned to look at Sheen. "Anyway it's probably best for her to focus on singing anyway."

After a couple minutes of silence Cindy spoke up. "Do you think he can hear us?" Cindy asked. Jimmy turned to her. Cindy met his gaze. "It's possible, right. People have reported that they were still able to hear others in a coma or in anesthesia."

"Yeah, I've read up on it." Jimmy looked away at Sheen not knowing what to say. Cindy turned her head as well.

Jimmy looked at Sheen thinking about it. "I don't know… I hope so. It'd be a good thing if he did." Cindy turned to Jimmy. He looked back to her. "If he could hear us that would mean his brain is still working. He would be regaining consciousness and not in a vegetative state."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Cindy said.

Silence was in the air for about 5 minutes. Cindy got the ball rolling again. "So Carl left with his parents, huh?"

"Yeah." Jimmy answered. "Spending Christmas with his grandparents… I heard your parents are in the Bahama's without you." Jimmy mentally hit himself when he realized why they went away in the first place. He was just trying to continue the conversation and hoped this wouldn't backfire.

"Yeah, it's their 25th anniversary. They spent their honeymoon there." She answered concealing the truth as best as she could. Jimmy was surprised she hid it well. He couldn't tell at all she was hiding something. "I would've gone too but it's difficult to ask for time off after getting hired."

Jimmy was relieved that she left it there. "So I guess we're the only ones in town then."

Cindy turned to face him. "What do you mean?"

"Well we've got no one else to hang out with."

"What makes you think I don't have any other friends here?"

Jimmy's eyes looked away from her embarrassed. He then looks back. "Alright then who else do you know in town?"

Cindy smiles a little. "I'm just messing with you."

"Okay." Jimmy chuckles a bit. After they laugh the room becomes silent again. "We should hang out though."

Cindy looks down taking a second to respond. "Well what would you want to do?"

Jimmy ponders over it for a second. "You want to go get a drink?"


	16. Chapter 16-What's Your Plan

Jimmy and Cindy had a table at JT's bar. Jimmy knew what he wanted while Cindy looked through the menu. They each had glasses of water set before them. Jimmy took a drink out of his as he looked around. Being that it was the night before Christmas Eve the place was rather empty. But the not-too-busy business establishment wasn't what had his interest. Jimmy felt a little awkward during this silence. Of course she needed to figure out what to eat and drink but he still felt a little awkward. Thankfully it didn't show. He was able to take a little comfort in knowing that he felt this way and not like the jerk he felt like 5 days before when he yelled at her.

Jimmy noticed Cindy was now looking through the beer selection. "You know what you want to eat?" He asked.

"The Cowboy Burger looks pretty good."

"Really?" Jimmy says a little surprised.

"Yeah." Cindy continued going through the menu. "Have you had it?"

"Yeah, that's what I usually get. But…"

Cindy looked up after a long silence. "What?"

"Well…" Jimmy awkwardly grimaced. "I mean are you sure? It's really fattening."

"So?" Cindy was blunt.

"I don't know." Jimmy continued awkwardly trying not to offend. "You sure you don't want… something less…"

"Why? You think I should be eating something else because I'm a girl?" She asked clearly somewhat offended.

"It's just… I don't know, I guess it's just that it's pretty filling. Not trying to be rude but girls usually just get a salad or something. I'm not saying you can't I'm just-"

Cindy interrupted. "Jimmy, we're in Texas. I grew up around 'fattening' barbeques. I'm going through a lot and since I don't have a tub of ice cream so this is the next best thing. Besides we're having beer which is also filling. I'm not watching my weight tonight, not that it was ever a problem."

Jimmy threw his hands up. "Okay, you're right. It was just a stupid thought. I'm sorry."

Cindy looked back at the menu. "It's okay. I'm used to your stupid thoughts." She stayed focused on the menu but she knew the offended reaction Jimmy had on his face. Back then he would have retorted but now he just stayed silent. "Do you want to share a pitcher?" Cindy asked.

"Sure." Jimmy said without a problem.

"Okay, I'm picking." Cindy said.

"Fair enough." Jimmy slouched down.

The waitress came up to the table. "Are you two ready?"

Before Jimmy could say anything Cindy opened her mouth. "We'll have two Cowboy Burgers and a pitcher of Leap of Faith please."

"Okay." The waitress wrote the order down. Jimmy just looked at Cindy surprised. "How do you want those cooked?"

"I'll have mine medium-rare." Cindy turned to Jimmy. "And how did you want yours?"

Jimmy kept looking at her while answering. "The same."

"Okay. I'll go get your pitcher." The waitress smiled and began to walk away.

"Thank you." Cindy said before the waitress left. She turned to Jimmy who was still looking at her funny. "What?"

"Leap of Faith?"

"Yeah, it sounds pretty good." Cindy was friendly in her answer. "You had it?"

"I have."

"Is it good?"

"It is."

"Okay, is something wrong then?"

"That's the strongest beer that they have, you know."

"Okay." Cindy said not seeing what the big deal was.

"18% proof." Jimmy added still not breaking his stare.

"So…" Cindy began to get annoyed.

"You realize we're going to get drunk really fast if we split that." He said more serious.

"That's the idea."

Jimmy paused for a second before talking. "Are you okay?"

Cindy retorted. "Can you relax a little? With everything that's happened I'd like to just relax and forget about it for a night. I don't need you treating me like an alcoholic."

Jimmy said nothing. He was genuinely a little concerned even though he knew none of the details about what she was going through. It was probably more appropriate to say he was cautious rather than concerned. Regardless he was worried but he didn't want to start some stupid argument. He was fortunate enough that she got over the last argument.

The both sat quietly looking at their glasses of water. Jimmy was the first to say something.

"So how was Stanford?" He lifted his head up to make eye contact. Her eyes went up after hearing the question. "Busy? Fun? I know the medical field is tough." Jimmy added.

"Well I still have four more years to get past the hard stuff. But it was fun." She said not showing much enthusiasm.

Jimmy continued the small talk. "Did you join a sorority or anything?" He wasn't 100% interested in the question. He was just being polite and milking out every question he could think of to get her talking. He didn't know what else to talk about.

"No. I was too busy. I have friends that did. They invited me to parties and I helped with some fundraising events. I got along with most of the houses."

"Greek by association, huh?"

Cindy nodded. "Pretty much. I sort of have the benefits of joining one without ever having to in the first place."

"It beats paying money so you can have friends."

"Seriously. Cindy laughed. Jimmy chuckled after her.

Silence returned for a while. The waitress then arrived with a pitcher and two pint glasses.

"Your food should be ready in about 10 minutes." The waitress informed them.

"Thank you." Cindy said to the waitress.

The waitress left the table as Jimmy first poured a glass for Cindy. She waited for him to have his glass poured before drinking out of the cup. When Jimmy was finished he grabbed his glass and raised it. She did the same. Despite having nothing to toast to they did the customary cheers and took a drink out of their glasses.

Cindy put her glass down looking a little disappointed. "Are you sure this is the strongest beer they have?"

"It goes down smooth but it has quite a kick. You'll see."

They were quiet again. Jimmy scrambled through his brain trying to find the best subject they could relate to that wouldn't be a downer. There weren't many options. Luckily for him Cindy got the conversation running again.

"So what about you?"

"Sorry?" Jimmy asked unsure.

"Did you end up going Greek?" Cindy asked.

"Oh. No, I couldn't." He answered. "Everyone turned me down because I was too young."

"Oh." She looked down. "Sorry."

"It wasn't bad. I still got in to some parties. Halloween was easy to sneak into every year. And my dorm mates sometimes included me. They were the ones that helped me develop my taste for alcohol. But yeah, it's difficult to engage in social situations when everyone treats you like a first grader."

"Yeah, the rest of your body was still growing to match with that huge head." Jimmy smiled a little then took a drink. Cindy did as well. "Did you make any friends at all?"

Jimmy tried to think of a decent answer but he just came out and said "Not really, no. Academically it was fine but the people there… Not my crowd like I thought it would be I guess… Anyway how was high school while I was gone?"

"Oh, really fun actually. It was way better than jr. high after that depressing… incident." She tried to downplay Sheen's incident. "But yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was too bad you missed out." She said smiling a little as her thoughts went back to high school memories.

"Probably because I wasn't around to screw things up, huh." Jimmy said looking down at his beer.

"Why would you say that?"

"Come on." Jimmy looked back up at her. "I wasn't exactly the most liked person in town. You know that."

"People liked you fine. You were a pain in the ass and we were hard on you but no one really hated you." Jimmy took another drink. Cindy did too. Jimmy looked back down at the table as he set his glass down. Cindy began to smile a little from a memory she was having. "You know we all talked about you a lot." Jimmy looked up at her. "Every time we were out and having fun one of us would always say 'Too bad Jimmy's not here' or 'Shame Neutron's moved away. He'd like this.' I don't think anyone hated you. Everyone missed having you around. Everyone bonded through what you did in elementary school."

"Well one person definitely did."

Cindy thought for a second about who he was talking about. "No. he apologized." She said.

"Not to me." Jimmy took a drink out of his glass.

"He actually became a lot cooler and nicer after you left."

"You're just saying that because you dated him."

"I wouldn't have gone out with him if he was still like that. Besides he was going through some stuff."

Jimmy raised his voice slightly "Oh, boo-hoo. _Everyone _was going through some stuff."

Cindy could've gotten more defensive but she held back and took a drink. Jimmy realized how close they were to having a pointless argument. He was surprised at how well this was going. He realized that excluding his drunken behavior the last time they really hadn't consciously fought. Wow, they both had really grown up a lot.

Jimmy changed the subject. "Anyway, did you date anyone at Stanford?"

Cindy was looking down at the table when he asked. She then made eye contact. "There were a couple guys. They were nice and we had fun but it wasn't really anything serious." Jimmy nodded to her as she answered the question. He took a drink from his pint. "What about you?"

Jimmy chuckled a bit as he put his glass down. "Are you kidding? If no one wanted to hang out with a 14 year old I'm sure you can guess what the answer to your question is."

Cindy looked down and picked up her glass. Jimmy looked away at the wall for a bit.

Cindy puts the glass down. "Wow." Jimmy looks back to Cindy. "You weren't kidding. This kicks in really fast."

"I told you. Be careful. You're drinking on an empty stomach."

"I feel really buzzed right now."

Right then the waitress came over with both plates of Cowboy Burgers. Jimmy and Cindy dug into their plates right away like they hadn't eaten in days. They ate quickly but quietly, each focused on devouring their food.

Cindy was the first to speak. "Can I be forward and ask you a personal question?"

Jimmy set his beer down. She wasn't asking in a serious tone but the question intrigued. "About what?"

"And you don't have to answer it if you don't want to. Although if you don't answer it I feel like you're kind of answering it anyway-"

"What is it?" Jimmy smiled knowing what the question would be.

"Are you still a virgin?" She asked smiling.

Without pausing, Jimmy gave out an unhesitant "No."

"Liar."

"What?" Jimmy said plainly, not defensively.

"Most guys lie about it anyway. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Well I never was like 'most guys.'"

"Still you just said you weren't able to get a date since you were too young."

"That doesn't mean I never hooked up with anyone. In fact of all people you should know that."

"That wasn't sex. And anyway that doesn't count. We didn't know what we were doing."

"Maybe not but we both walked away feeling good, I know that."

"Oh please, I was faking it."

"No you weren't. You may have had better since then. In fact for your sake I hope so because I know that wasn't my best effort."

"How would you know."

"Come on." Jimmy gave a smug smile.

"Okay, but that still doesn't count. You said you didn't date anyone."

"I didn't have a girlfriend, no." Jimmy took a bite out of his burger.

"So then how are you not a virgin."

Jimmy swallowed. "Senior year I was close to the age range of being considered a freshmen so I hung around that crowd. There were a two girls. We were sober and just wanted to have sex. Lose our virginity at the same time. That was that." Jimmy takes a drink from his cup. Cindy looks down feeling sorry for giving him a hard time. "It was fun. Felt great but honestly I think sex is overrated."

Cindy chuckled a bit. "Maybe you're gay." She took a drink.

"I know you're joking, but seriously. What's the point of sex if you don't care about the person."

"Now you do sound gay."

"Ha ha, very funny." Jimmy laughed sarcastically. "I just never had that impulse that other guys do to..." He thought carefully of what word to use. "Conjugate every girl that they see."

Cindy chuckles a bit. That was something the old Jimmy definitely would've said. "So you're pretty much that nice guy that always finishes last."

"Don't rub it in." Jimmy said more downbeat.

Cindy dropped the sarcasm. "You shouldn't worry about it anyway. It makes sense."

"What, that I'm inadequate when it comes to the physical part."

"No, not at all. If it counts for anything you weren't bad in jr. high. Knowing you I'm pretty sure you did research before to know what you're doing and how to get it right. I'm guessing those girls also walked away happy at Harvard."

"So what are you getting at?"

"I guess when we were dating it just never seemed like the physical stuff interested you. You were good at kissing and all that other stuff when it was appropriate. But you seemed to enjoy talking a lot more. It makes sense, you'd rather connect on some intellectual level than just a physical one. You're an intellectual person and that's what attracts you."

Jimmy looked down at his glass. He liked how she put it into perspective but he still felt a little ashamed.

"Hey." Cindy called him quietly. Jimmy's eyes went back up to her. She was smiling. "It's not a bad thing at all. Honestly when you weren't being such a pain you were great to talk to." Jimmy cracked a little bit of a smile but his thought still focused on regret.

Cindy looked over at the beer pong table which wasn't in use. "Do you want to play?" She pointed to the table. Jimmy noticed it was free. "We have to finish this pitcher anyway so we may as well."

"Yeah, I'm down. As soon as I finish eating."

The game took a while, both of them bickering over the rules since they had played differently. JT settled the arguments by establishing the house rules the bar had. They fought but it was more friendly than heated. He let them stay after closing and stayed as judge for the game. He even had some drinks himself so he could have some fun with them. The beer got them past the point of buzzed and they were definitely drunk. When they were down to the last cup they took forever. Cindy finally made her last shot and Jimmy failed to rebuttal. JT offers them shots but they both wisely stop at the beer.

* * *

Rather than go home right away they decided to go for a walk in the park. It was freezing cold but they had their jackets on. The sky was clear and the view of the stars was a sight to behold. Still drunk, they both laid down on the grass looking up at the stars and reminisced over the old days.

"You remember 'field day' where everyone cheated?" Jimmy asked.

Cindy laughed. "Actually you cheated. I only lost on a technicality."

"That was a pretty big technicality being that it was a 'parent/child' contest." Jimmy nudged her.

"I was just as surprised as everyone else." It stay silent for a bit. "Hey do you remember that one Easter where…" Jimmy looked over to Cindy as she paused. "Never mind. I just realized you weren't here for that."

Jimmy looked away and up to the stars. "It's crazy how stupid we were, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how competitive we were. It kind of went too far, don't you think?"

"You know, in retrospect it was actually kind of cute."

Jimmy turned to Cindy. "You think so?"

She takes a second. "Yeah, maybe. I don't know, it was weird. It wasn't like we really hated each other though. It was..." She started laughing. "I don't even know." They both continued laughing.

Silence fell for a bit as they both looked up at the stars. Jimmy changed the conversation. "So what are your plans?"

Cindy turns to him. "For what?"

"The future? Jobs and that stuff I guess."

She looks back up and keeps talking. "I guess it's just finish medical school, become an MD and then move up from there."

"That's a good plan."

"What about you?" Jimmy thought about it but didn't know how to answer. She turned to him to see a confused face struggling to find the right words.

"I don't know." He said letting a bit of nervous laughter slip out mid sentence but contained it right after. "Um… Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing."

Cindy was surprised. Her eyes wandered away from him. She was confused at the idea that this boy genius was having a hard time finding out what to do with his life. "Well at least you technically have something that counts as work." She politely said trying to offer something positive worth mentioning.

"Actually I quit." She looked back at him. Jimmy looked at her to see her reaction. "No, actually I got fired. But I more or less did it on purpose so I kind of quit."

Cindy was shocked. "You mind if I asked what happened?"

Jimmy thought for a second. "The guy is just an idiot. He started trying to pour acid on a mouse just so it would be obedient and I was like… I bailed out after that."

"Oh my God! What!?" Said said quite loud in shock.

"Yeah, I don't know what he was doing. A guy also let acid burn through 4 floors of the building."

"What are they doing in there!?"

"I don't know. But the mouse got away. I'm still worried but he's better off outside than in there. I don't know if he can survive with how bad they messed him up." Jimmy looked back up at the sky.

Cindy thought for a few seconds before continuing the conversation. "Why don't you apply for NASA?"

"You remember the trip to Mercury where we fought just before we were the N-Men?"

"The one where we arm wrestled." Cindy laughed.

Jimmy laughed as well. "Yeah, that was ridiculous."

"You were physically fighting a girl, Neutron."

"Hey, you were strong… Are strong…" He added. "Anyway your martial arts was on par with my level."

"Oh, what level is that?" She asked still laughing.

"My manliness."

"Shut up." She laughed. "You were just a shrimpy little dork who couldn't fight anyone but a girl."

Jimmy gave her a friendly nudge. She screamed laughing. "Are you ticklish down there?" He went again till she begged to stop still laughing. Jimmy backed down. They both finished laughing. "Anyway the radiation belt messed with my blood somehow. When they did the blood test on me they said I wouldn't be able to physically survive the trip. I told them what it was and the computer would read it funny. They saw the data I showed them but they didn't listen."

Cindy looked more serious. "You sure it isn't fatal in some way?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Why?"

"Because in high school Libby and I tried to donate blood and it came out lighter than normal red blood so they couldn't take it."

"We're all fine. Really. It's kind of like a scar to remind us of what happened. Although more of a liquid one than a physical one." Cindy looked away up at the stars. "But that one's on me. I should've paid attention to where we were going."

"No." Cindy said. "I pretty much egged you on on purpose. It's my fault."

Jimmy looked at her. While she was looking up at the sky he could see the sincerity in her face. He could also see the tinge of pain it took for her to admit fault and he smiled a little bit laughing to himself about her stubbornness. He looked back up at the sky.

Cindy spoke again. "Why don't you work for the BTSO?"

"They were shut down."

"What?"

"Yeah. After the NSA surveillance hacks were revealed I guess they went away because it wasn't so secret anymore."

"Well there's other agencies. CIA? FBI?"

"They both tried to get me. The CIA wanted me as an analyst and the FBI wanted me as a chemical weapons expert. The NSA wanted me on surveillance as well." Jimmy felt the silence. He turned to Cindy to see a surprised expression. "You're gonna ask why I didn't take any of the jobs, huh?"

"Well it better be a good answer." Cindy said anticipating an explanation.

Jimmy took a deep breathe. "Well… It's just that NSA doing surveillance? After information was leaked that we basically don't have any more privacy. Also I saw what they had before that leak. You don't even want to know what else they have. FBI? Making weapons of terror for the government. CIA? Finding information for men not to make kill orders and they consciously ignore them anyway. I mean… I don't want to start ranting here but I'm a scientist Cindy. I'm supposed to work in a way that helps humanity progress yet all I'm qualified for is whatever helps us destroy ourselves. I don't want to be responsible for those drones circling over our heads right now that could kill us at any second if they wanted… Not that they will but I mean… It's just all messed up, you know. I could keep going on and on and-" He looked over at Cindy who was still looking up. "I mean what do you think I should do?"

"I don't know." Cindy said. Jimmy looked back up. "There has to be something though. Can't you work for yourself?"

"I'd still need funding and unfortunately investors don't really like me."

"Why not?"

"Well if you google my name it's synonymous with destroying stuff, most of it thanks to the articles from this town back in elementary school." Jimmy took a deep breathe. "Who would've thought that stuff would be digitized and on the internet?"

They both just sat quietly there for a while. Her questions got Jimmy thinking about where to work. He finally spoke up after a couple minutes."Honestly, I know my mom is upset with me because I don't have a career right now. I can get a decent job if I want working for the government and I'd be successful. But I… I just don't want to get sucked in to something I don't believe is right. Whatever job I get it has to be the right one. I just don't trust anybody and… I'm really drunk right now." Jimmy started laughing mid sentence. "I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense."

Cindy didn't find it funny. She had sobered up a little bit but was still really buzzed. He made an interesting point but she was sure there was more to it then he was letting on. "It's okay, Neutron." She said with pity. Jimmy didn't catch it and just kept laughing. Cindy got up. "Hey, I'm freezing. Can we head back. I can drive if you want."

"No, I got autopilot. It's fine. Better to be safe, you know." Jimmy said slurring a little bit.

"Okay." Cindy quickly got up. Jimmy struggled to get his keys out of his pocket to signal the hover car to come over. When it did they both got it and rode back to the neighborhood without saying a word.

* * *

The car stopped in Jimmy's driveway. Cindy opened the door but didn't get out right away.

"Hey Jimmy." Cindy said. He turned to face her. "It was good talking to you."

His eyes quickly looked off then back at her, clearly drunk and tired. "You, same to you."

She nodded smiling lightly. "I'll see you around." Cindy got out of the car.

"Goodnight, Cindy." Jimmy managed to say before she shut the door.

"Goodnight." She shut the door.


	17. Chapter 17-Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve. Jimmy woke up to the sun shining in his face. It was a beautiful day. There was a nice breeze outside, the air was cool. It was perfect weather for Christmas in Texas.

Jimmy laid in bed feeling pretty good. He had to admit to himself that, even though they didn't do much, he had a lot of fun just hanging out and talking with Cindy. It was nice not being bound to the over-the-top arguments they had when they were younger. He was glad to hear that she had a good time when he left for college and that she was moving towards the career she wanted. Then he thought about his situation which was the complete opposite.

Jimmy heard Goddard in hallway. He got up and opened his door. The mechanical canine was dusting the walls.

"Hey boy." Goddard turned to Jimmy. "Can you run a quick search for the jobs I'm best qualified for based on my resume?" Goddard's screen opened up. A loading bar appeared as he searched the net. "Thanks boy. Send it to my computer." Jimmy went back inside and shut the door.

After taking a shower he got dressed and sat down at his desk. He opened his laptop and saw there was an email from Goddard. The email listed all the links for applications he requested. The listings weren't exactly what he wanted to see: CIA analyst, NSA surveillance, FBI chemical weapons specialist. He saw an opening at NASA for a secretary but considered himself overqualified. It was everything he didn't care for. Frustrated, Jimmy closed the laptop.

* * *

Downstairs Judy was baking Christmas cookies in various shapes of Santa, bells, and Christmas tree's. The radio in the kitchen was playing Christmas music. Today was the only day she had off to enjoy a nice little Christmas for herself.

Jimmy arrived downstairs to see a few small decorations set out. There was a small tree not yet decorated at the corner of the living room, two stockings by the fireplace, and some reindeer and snowmen stuffed animals. He walked past the living room and entered the kitchen.

"Morning." He said upon seeing Judy cutting out Christmas shapes from the cookie dough.

Judy's eyes left the baking sheet and looked to Jimmy. "Good morning. Do you want me to make some breakfast?" Judy asked.

"Uh, no. I can have cereal. It's fine."

Judy went back to working on the cookie dough. Jimmy grabbed some cereal and poured some milk. He took a seat at the table.

"So where did you go last night after you left the hospital?" Judy asked.

Jimmy looked up after taking a bite of cereal. "Just out."

"Where?"

"Out." Jimmy answered plainly.

Judy smiled. "You came back quite late. I heard you come home after midnight. And I saw you leave the hospital with Cindy." Judy showed her motherly all-knowing grin.

Jimmy smiled a little guilty. "We just hung out. Went and had a drink. Talked. That was it." Judy kept smiling. "What?" Jimmy said.

"Nothing. It's just that you know know how you two were as kids-"

"Come on." Jimmy interrupted while chuckling a little. "That's ancient history. We're just friends, okay. Friends mourning over the present condition of a mutual friend and bonding through tragedy. That's really all there is to it."

"Okay." Judy focused back on the cookies without losing that grin.

Seeing his mother clearly wasn't taking him seriously, Jimmy wouldn't back down. "What's with that look?"

"Well I know you, James Issac Neutron. You've been living in my home for the past few years. I know she's the first girl you've been spending time with in God knows how long and I know you've always had a crush on her."

Jimmy turns back to his cereal. "Well she's not going to be around for long. She goes back to school next fall."

Judy looked back down at the cookie dough. Even though she didn't say anything Jimmy could tell she thought about Cindy's father. "Do you work today?" She asked.

Jimmy took a second to respond to that. "Uh, no. Not today."

"Are they closed for Christmas?" Judy casually asked.

Jimmy had no valid reason to hide the truth other than to not have his mom bother him about a job more than she had been already. He thought about which way to answer. "No, actually. Um… I quit." Judy stopped what she was doing and looked up at Jimmy concerned. "Yeah, I thought it was about time I leave. Hopefully I'll get something else soon. I kind of have to now since I officially am not doing anything. I really can't make excuses to myself." Jimmy guiltily continued to look at Judy expecting a negative reaction.

Judy took a second thinking over how to respond. "Well you are a grown man and you know what you need to do for yourself." Judy answered sincerely. Even though she didn't give the most comforting response he was happy to hear she was somewhat supportive. He turned back to his cereal bowl. "Have you been looking online to see if there are any openings?" Judy asked.

"I saw a few this morning, but… it's just tough finding the right place to start. Everything I'm qualified for is not exactly what I'm into."

"Just apply for them anyway. You don't have anything to lose. You're not going to find the perfect job right away."

Jimmy sighed "I know. But it's not that simple, mom."

Judy looked to her son. Though she didn't know the details as to why she could tell he was beating down on himself. With his friend in the hospital she didn't want to give her son a hard time.

Judy began to speak comfortingly. "You can have a head full of the best ideas, James Issac Neutron. But if you cannot make the right moves in the world then those ideas are worthless."

Jimmy kept his back towards Judy as he stared at his cereal bowl thinking. His thoughts were all over the place with everything that was happening to him.

Judy sympathetically looked at her confused son. "Look, I know right now things are bad. I don't expect you to go out and find a new job right away. But it is something you're going to have to think about pretty soon. You can't stay here forever you know. You have to live out your own life."

Jimmy turned to his mother and made eye contact. "I know that mom. I just… I can't screw this one up like I always have. Everything I've ever done in this town... someone or something has gotten hurt and I can't do that anymore." He broke eye contact turned away from his mother before he said the word "someone."

Judy didn't know what to say. The conversation ended there as Jimmy finished the rest of his cereal. But the day got better once he started helping his mom bake the cookies. A combination of this with the music helped inject some Christmas spirit in him. As a man of science he wasn't ever religious or believed in myth of Santa Clause, but he always appreciated the cheerful vibe that came with this time of year. He helped his mother put up the decorations on the tree and they watched a few Christmas specials on TV like "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer" and "Mickey's Christmas Carol." Judy went to bed early that night because she had an early morning shift. Jimmy's thoughts went to Sheen as they had done quite often since he was in the hospital. When he had nothing to do it always felt to him like that's where he should be. If there was anything he wanted for Christmas it was for his friend to finally wake up.

* * *

At the hospital Jimmy opened the door to Sheen's room and saw that he had a visitor. One Jimmy hadn't seen in quite a long time. The visitor was a young man, roughly a few years older than Jimmy, who was in some nice business attire. He walked in while the young man was in the middle of a sentence as he spoke to Sheen's body. "-and I just hope that soon you'll-" The man turned around reacting to Jimmy opening the door. Though there were no tears Jimmy could see the watery eyes. As they made eye contact the visitor was immediately surprised. "Neutron?"

"Nick." Jimmy said in an unpleasant manner. He was clearly not happy to be in the presence of Nick Dean.

Nick wiped his eyes real quick. "Hey. How've you been?"

"You know the answer to your question." Jimmy continued standing still looking serious.

Nick laughed. "Heh, yeah. I guess so." He turned and looked at Sheen. Jimmy didn't let his eyes off of Nick. "I'm sorry to see him like this-"

"Why are _you _here, Nick?" Jimmy interrupted slightly raising his voice.

Jimmy's tone caught Nick by surprise. "Well I came in today with my wife to spend Christmas with my family and I heard about… well." Nick turned to look at Sheen lifeless and breathing through an automated machine with a tube shoved deep down his esophagus. "God, that's a freaky sight." He said genuinely unnerved and sad but Jimmy wasn't buying it. Nick looked down at the floor as he turned his head back towards Jimmy. "I talked to his uncle and some of the staff and I guess his treatment is a bit of a financial liability on everyone so I offered to pay while he's asleep."

Jimmy raised his voice enough to surprise Nick. "Oh, really!? That's your cheap trick now!?"

"What? I'm not getting it-" Nick said confused.

Jimmy interrupted and began to rant. "Oh come on, Dean? I know you're not a total idiot. Somehow you've managed to con the public into buying your product. Well your cheap tricks aren't going to get me to sell my designs to you so you can screw me over and have the last laugh."

Nick got defensive but was still confused at this hostility. "Neutron, I'm not here for an offer. I've made it clear in all my messages that I'll keep trying but this isn't about you. It's about Sheen."

"Really? Since when did you give a damn about Sheen? After everything pulled back in school on him, on all of us! And the grief you personally gave me when he accidently left the planet! You think I forgot about that? You think I forgot about the angry mob you led to my lab that nearly burned it down along with my entire neighborhood?"

Nick stood back a little lifting cautiously lifting his hands up in a "chill out" gesture. "Look, I never got to apologize. I know I took it too far and I know just saying sorry doesn't do a thing. But a lot changed after you left."

Jimmy turned his head away not looking at Nick in the eye as he answered. "Everyone keeps saying that."

"it's true. I'm sorry you weren't around-"

Jimmy turned his head back to Nick and took a step closer to show he was serious. "Well I don't care! I don't want to hear anything you have to say! And for the last time I want you to stop calling me! I'm not going to sell to you! Is there any way I can make that clearer to you?"

Jimmy was within arms reach from Nick. Nick looked down and sighed. He grabbed his jacket and slowly made his way towards the door. About halfway through Nick turned to Jimmy.

"Merry Christmas, Neutron." Nick said morosely but polite.

"Yeah, fuck you too." Jimmy responded.

Nick closed the door leaving Jimmy alone with Sheen. Jimmy just looked at him. He kept looking at the body that he had been staring at for days. He thought about how Sheen hadn't moved a single muscle. Everything had been in the exact same place as it had been yesterday and the day before and the day before that. With the exception of the breathing machine, it was like the pause button had been hit on Sheen's life as the rest of the world kept moving. It wasn't fair. He tried to hold back as a tear began to trickle down his face until he just couldn't hold back anymore. He knew he was alone and began crying in his own privacy. He got down on his knees and buried his head at the side of Sheen's bed.

* * *

Meanwhile in Jimmy's lab, some of Jimmy's old inventions were stacked on the floor in the corner. The Remote Powered Mini Comet, the Freeze Ray, the Time Accelerator, and the Brain-Drain 8,000 all sat perfectly in a row. Some metal scraps sat in front of these inventions. The shrink ray was placed on the ground perfectly aimed at the corner. A stack of notebooks sat pretty high next Jimmy's shrink ray. Jerry was at the top of the stack in diving stance. The mouse leaped off the top and landed on the big red button.


	18. Chapter 18-Christmas Day

The doorbell rang. The sound woke up Jimmy. He was somewhere in between being half asleep and half awake. As his eyes started closing the doorbell rang again. They opened back lightly as his mind began to process that he was at home waking up from a dream. Yet his sleepiness took over and he let his eyes gently close again. Jimmy heard the door downstairs opened up. He was still half asleep but his thoughts were beginning to sense that something wasn't right here. When he heard the door close shut and the deadbolt lock on his eyes immediately flew wide open. He was now on full alert and completely awake.

Jimmy sat up right away and look at the closed door to his room. He could hear footsteps coming from downstairs. He quickly processed the situation logically. His knew his mom was at work. No one was home that could answer the door except for him. The bell rang twice as he was waking up. The most likely scenario he could think of was that a burglar rang the bell twice to see if anyone was home and broke in once no one answered the door. They were the only house on the block not to have Christmas lights outside and as such it would appear that they were out of town. Jimmy went to grab his phone at his desk. He hit the button to turn the screen on but nothing came on. He then remembered that his battery was dead. He looked out the window to see if there was anything suspicious, perhaps a vehicle that didn't belong in the neighborhood that he could copy it's license plate. There were many vehicles parked outside on the street on account of relatives visiting families for Christmas. Not one car looked to be out of the ordinary. Jimmy scanned around his room to see if there was anything he could use as a weapon. In his closet he saw there was an old, out-of-commission baseball bat he made back in the day for the Retroville 9 team.

Jimmy made his way down the stairs, cautious in every step he took. He held the bat in hitting stance as his eyes scanned the living room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. At the bottom left corner of the stairs he heard some movement. His cautious steps began to move faster. As he got closer he heard a slight whimper from Goddard. There was some quiet chuckling coming from a human voice. Jimmy's eyes opened wider. He reached the bottom of the stairs and stood still at the corner. Goddard whimpered again. Suddenly the whimpering stopped and Jimmy heard a metallic crunch sound. His grip on the bat began to tighten. As he heard footsteps coming his way Jimmy stood there good and ready. The footsteps casually approached closer and closer. With an urge to strike Jimmy pops out of the corner yelling and swings his bat. The unwelcomed visitor ducked from the swing as Jimmy managed to hit the closet door. Before he could strike again a hand grabbed the bat holding it against the wall followed by a foot kicking Jimmy in the chest. Jimmy flew about 5 feet away and landed hard on his back right next to the coffee table in the living room. He looked up and saw none other than Cindy holding the bat in an intimidating pose ready to strike.

"Cindy?" Jimmy as he held his arm up in front of his face.

"Neutron?" Cindy looked at him confused by his approach. This predicament wasn't something she had expected. Goddard came into the living room barking, standing at Cindy's side chewing a piece of metal. "Why are you trying to hit me?"

"What are you doing in my house?" He retaliated.

"Goddard let me in." Goddard barked to confirm. "Why did you come down with a bat?"

Jimmy pulled himself up from the floor. "I heard you come in thinking you were a burglar."

"Seriously?" Cindy looked at him condescendingly. "Wow, great going Neutron."

"Well how else am I supposed to react when visitors enter unannounced?" He asked rhetorically. Jimmy turned to his most trusted canine. "Goddard, since when you allowed to open the door for strangers?"

"Oh, so I'm a stranger now?" Cindy said.

"No." He said frustrated at how easily offended she got. "It's just that Goddard's security protocol doesn't allow him to let anyone in unless he's instructed to by myself or my parents."

"And you don't think your parents trust me to come into your house?" She asked with her arms crossed.

"Well why on Earth would they?" He looked away doubting she'd give a plausible explanation.

Cindy kept her arms crossed. "Because I used to walk him every day in high school and when you're parents were out of town. You're mom gave me permission to come into the house."

"Huh… Well I guess I'm gonna have to do an update on your basic protocols, huh boy?" Goddard looks down and whines a little. Jimmy turned back to Cindy "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I just came by to drop something off for you." She said nonchalantly.

Jimmy looked surprised. "You brought a present?"

"No. I made you cookies that you won from that bet."

"Oh… well thanks."

An awkward silence fell between the two. Jimmy knew he should say something. It felt like a rare opportunity to have him in his house like this. What kind of opportunity that was he didn't know.

Cindy finally spoke. "Well I guess I'll go back home now."

Jimmy felt too awkward he screamed in his own head at the mention of those words.

"Okay… thanks for the cookies."

She started moving for the door. "Yeah. Sorry for… kicking you I guess."

He stretched out his arms to crack his back in places. "Don't worry about it."

"Merry Christmas."

Cindy walked right past him. "Merry Christmas." Jimmy said back to her.

Jimmy stood still. He heard the door open. It's felt wrong letting her leave like that. She obviously came over for something other than delivering cookies. Or so he thought. If she left now then he knew he'd spend the rest of the day at home or at the hospital. Just before she stepped outside that's when he turned around. "Hey Cindy!" The door stopped from almost closing and opened back up. Cindy let her head pop out slightly. "Are you doing anything today?"

Cindy stopped closing the door. She turned around and pushed it back slightly to see Jimmy. "Nothing really. I was probably going to just watch something on TV all day… You?"

"Um… nothing really. Probably the same."

"Huh." She said while nodding awkwardly.

"Well do you want to hang out or something today? You know, do something more interesting than just hanging around all day."

Jimmy watched her eyes wonder as she thought over the proposition. "What would we do?"

Jimmy thought about it for a second. "I don't know." He said downbeat, bummed that he couldn't come up with any exciting ideas. "But at least we'll have company, right? No one should really be alone today, right? I mean of all days-"

Cindy interrupted. "Yeah, we can hang out."

"Cool." An awkward silence fell. "Um, I gotta shower and get dressed real quick. I guess you can wait in the living room. Did you eat breakfast yet?"

Cindy shook her head. "No, not yet."

"Okay. Goddard can cook something if you want."

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay, I'll be down in a bit."

Jimmy went upstairs. Cindy looked at Goddard. Goddard's face went from normal to excitedly happy as though he assumed something was going on between the two.

Cindy sat at the kitchen table eating the delicious pancakes made by the mechanical canine. Afterwards she got up to look around the living room. She noted that not one thing was different in the house, minus the Christmas decorations and probably the flatscreen hadn't been to the Neutron house often but a wave of nostalgia hit her. She remembered the one night Neutron threw a party and everyone was in the living room. It was one of the few times Neutron had done something right. She smiled and laughed a bit at the memory feeling a little embarrassed to have even admitted it back then.

Standing at the bottom of the staircase, Cindy could hear the door open to Jimmy's room. As though she was guilty of something she immediately left the living and went back in the kitchen.

Back in the kitchen Cindy sat at the table while Jimmy stood at the counter digging through the cookies.

"Woah." Jimmy kept grabbing another cookie just when it would seem he was finished. "Thank you so much. I haven't had these forever. These are great."

"You're welcome…" Cindy sat kicking both feet in the air. "So what do you want to do today, Neutron?"

Jimmy slowed down on his devouring of the cookies but still had one in hand. "Um… I'm not sure. I was probably going to be at the hospital all day."

Cindy laughed in a manner of disbelief. "No, I don't want to do that." She said in an irritated tone. Jimmy was a little hurt by the way she said it as though she didn't really care about what was happening. At the same time he knew her family situation that she probably went to him to get away from her problems. The fact that she also works at the hospital is reason enough for her to not want to go. Before he could say anything Cindy spoke up. "I mean it's been a week and nothing new has happened. I don't mean to be cruel, Neutron. But honestly what more can we do?"

It dawned on him that it was exactly a week ago Sheen was admitted to the hospital. Her rationalization on the matter made absolute sense to him. And she was right, there was nothing they could do now but wait for something to happen. "Well what do you want to do then?"

Cindy looks down at the floor deflated. "I don't know."

Jimmy thought for a second. He tried to come up with the best solution that would distract them from their problems. "Maybe we can go somewhere." Cindy looks back up at him. "I have a hovercar. We can go anywhere we want."

"That really opens the possibilities." Cindy said. Cindy looked down and contemplated it for a second. She looked by up ready to speak. "Well where would you want to go?"

Once again another question he had no answer to. But he knew what he needed. Or at least what he felt would do them both some good. "I don't know. Probably somewhere calm. Not too crowded. Somewhere where I guess I can just forget about everything going on for a little while. That's one thing Christmas is about right? In some way?"

They both sit there pondering for a while. Eventually Cindy begins to smile a little and quietly laugh to herself. Jimmy hears her laugh and looks to her. "What?"

Cindy takes out her phone and composes an email. Jimmy is even more confused. He could hear the outgoing message being sent through the phones sound effect. Suddenly Goddard gets up excited. He looks over to Cindy to make sure. Cindy nods back smiling. The mechanical canine runs out of the kitchen excited.

"Goddard?" Jimmy called out concerned.

"He's fine."

Jimmy turned back to Cindy. "What's going on?"

"He packing for you?"

"Packing what?"

Cindy got up and began walking out of the kitchen. "I'm not telling you that."

"What's going on?" Jimmy asked following her.

"We're going out. I gotta get a few things."

"Where are we going?"

They arrive at the front door. Cindy opens the door."It's a surprise, Neutron. I can't tell you."

Before she could take a step back Jimmy took a step in front of the door and closed it back. "Well I'm the one driving so I kind of have to know the destination." He said in an assertive tone.

Cindy got uncomfortably close in his face. "No you're not. I'm driving."

Jimmy got closer. "You can't drive my hovercar." He said with great emphasis as he looked down on her.

She got up on her tip toes to match his level. "Can too."

"No way! You don't know how to drive it."

"If it's anything like your old model I'll do fine. I'm sure it's safer too since we cannot fall into the middle of the ocean."

"I don't care. No one drives that car but me."

"Fine. I'll just stay home for the day. If you'll excuse me."

Cindy grabs the doorknob and turns it open. Jimmy pushed the door shut. They both starred at each other wide eyed, neither of them blinking, their faces both uncomfortably close. Cindy took a couple steps back away from him and crossed her arms. They both stood for a while.

"Do you really want to sit around all day doing nothing?" She asked.

He didn't. But he knew she didn't either. Yet he was as stubborn anymore like he was once. Back then they would've fought back and forth without resolving the situation. But his need to get out of the house was greater than his ego needing to be in control of everything. Jimmy eventually took his keys out of his pockets, set them on the entrance table and pushed them her way. Cindy smiles.

* * *

"WARNING. WARNING"

"Woah! WOAH!" Jimmy screamed as the hovercar spiraled out of control 30,000 feet in the air. The warning screen flashed red. The alarm beeped faster and fast. The hovercar starts to nosedive towards the ground. "PULL IT UP!"

Cindy pulls the wheel back. "Jesus Christ, Neutron! How did you manage to make this even more unsafe than the old one?" She ask rhetorically.

"There's nothing wrong with the hovercar. The person driving it on the other hand, that's a different sto-RRRRYYYYY!" The car makes a sudden jolt to the left throwing off Jimmy as he finished his sentence. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU? Stearing is no different then when you're driving your car. You hold the wheel steady, you don't do sharp turns-"

"I was holding it steady. Your brake pads threw me off."

"Oh, for the love of-" Jimmy threw his hands up in the air just before he was about to curse. "They don't work like normal breaks."

"Well you keep telling me it works like a normal car and then it doesn't work like a normal car. Which one is it Neutron?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT!" Jimmy yells out of frustration. He goes to the screen and switches the car from manual to cruise control. The car stops jerking around and levels out. "There, now all you have to do is hold the wheel steady and keep away from another vehicles flight path, okay?"

After ten minutes of riding what felt like the Bat Outta Heck ride at Retroland, Jimmy sat back frustrated. "I should be the one driving." He mutter out loud to himself.

"Well if you knew where we were going then it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Surprise? Really? As sweet of a place it's not a surprise."

"I just thought of a place I think we could both go to so that we can relax and get away. Jeesh Neutron, isn't that what you want?"

"My point is there's no reason for you to be driving." Jimmy turned away from her and looked out the window. "I already know where you're taking us."

"Oh do you now King Cranium." Even though she couldn't see his reaction, that one hit Jimmy for a second. It had been a very long time since he heard her call him that. "Well tell me since you're the genius here. Where are we going?"

"Where else would you be going?" He asked rhetorically and nonchalantly.

"Go where? You haven't said where you think I'm taking you yet."

"Oh, for the…" Jimmy turned to face her. "Vortex, I don't need to say it. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"How can I know if you don't tell me?"

"Oh, why do…" Jimmy threw his hands in the air in defeat. "Okay, the island. You're going to the island."

A few brief seconds of silence went on between the two. "What makes you think that?" She let a brief laugh out mid sentence as she casually asked.

"SERIOUSLY! Where else would you want to go that we would have to go to in hover mode?" Jimmy quieted down a bit. "Look, it's a nice idea and it could be fun but I still should be the one to drive."

"Two things: First of all I don't even know the way to the island. I have no idea where it is apart from it being near the Pacific Ocean. Second, I'm glad to hear that you still think about that place but no, that isn't where we're going at all."

Cindy had the last word. Jimmy is quiet for a while. He then speaks again. "Well can I at least get a hint as to where we're going?"

"You'll see when we get there." Cindy said with a smirk on her face. "I'll say this: It's somewhat similar to the island."

"So it's a beach?"

Her smirk held as she kept her gaze outside focused on flying the hovercar. "You'll see."

"How far away are we?"

Cindy looks at the map on the monitor. "About half an hour away."

There was an uncomfortable silence as they continue flying. Jimmy sat quietly being grumpy. He looked out the window up to the sky, away from Cindy who was in total awe of the experience of flying the hovercar. She occasionally looks over at Jimmy to make sure he won't spot her.

After about 20 minutes of silence Cindy is the first to crack. "It's funny how behind everyone else is, huh?" Jimmy looks over at her not fully understanding the meaning of her sentence. "I mean with flying cars. Movies promised us we'd get them by 2015 and no one's even close. Except for you of course."

"Hm." Jimmy scoffs a little in reaction to Cindy's strange attempt at a compliment.

"Honestly, why haven't you sold your designs to some auto companies? Or start your own company with them? You'd be a billionaire. And this is one of your few inventions that actually work." Jimmy looks at her. "I mean it may not be too user friendly but it works; we're flying."

"I've thought about it. I still get offers about it every month from Nick." Right then Cindy wants to scream at him to accept the offer but refrains from asking any more questions knowing it's a sore subject for him. Jimmy continued. "But also it's a lot of other stuff. I'd need a minimum of $15,000 to purchase the patent so nobody tries to rip me off and I lose everything. And add attorney fees on top of that. And I told you how tough financing is-"

"Oh please." She shook her head irritated. "I mean really Neutron, it can't be that hard for you. You're the boy genius who went to Harvard at 14; that's "WOW" enough for rich idiots to want to invest in you. I searched you on Google. It's not like it's only bad stuff about you. You forget about all the times you've saved the town and people were actually grateful? Besides doesn't Havard have some grant for graduates that are super smart or…"

She turned to Jimmy who was looking down and didn't finish her sentence. Jimmy could see her through his peripherals that she was waiting an answer. "Ideally yes I would get a grant for research. But… well let's just say they don't really like me over there for some stuff I did."

Jimmy turned and made eye contact at that last part. Although he wasn't being overly whiney Cindy could tell behind those eyes there was a sad human being and she couldn't help but feel for this creature of self pity even if it was a little pathetic. It was enough that she wasn't thinking about her own problems. She broke eye contact and looked ahead to see the Pacific Ocean was dead ahead of them. Cindy descends below the clouds to see the San Francisco bay area.

"California?" Jimmy looked to her.

Cindy pulls the car a little to her right and flies up north passing every beach overheard till she see's her destination coming up. "Can you shut off cruise control? I have to land soon."

"Do you remember how to-"

Cindy interrupts. "Damn it, yes Neutron. If it's the same as your last hovercar then I can definitely land this one."

Jimmy wasn't in the mood to argue. He simply followed orders and turned the cruise control off. Cindy lowered the car, keeping it at least 35 feet from the ground. The beaches were empty on account of it being Christmas morning there. In fact most people probably weren't awake yet given it was sunrise in California. Now there was only ocean, no beach. Cindy began to slow down. Jimmy looked ahead to see what she was doing. Around the corner he could see an opening for a cove, likely a beach. His guess was proven right as they got close to an isolated beach. The scenery was beautiful, practically a California postcard without the people in it. Jimmy was still confused as to why she brought them here, but now was not the time to argue since Cindy had to land and if she was going to crash he wasn't going to be the cause of it by yelling at her.

Cindy safely landed the car close to a mound. There were no signs of houses above when they landed. The place seemed like a nice secluded spot away from civilization. If he hadn't seen the building over the mound he would've pegged the spot for an island. Cindy got out of the driver's seat and headed in a very specific direction towards the mound. Jimmy jumped out of the car and ran up to her to catch up.

"Where are we?" Jimmy asked while running.

"40 minutes away from Stanford." She casually answered.

The location intrigued him even more since she brought him so close to what was more or less her new home. He stayed a few paces behind her. Goddard caught up walking along side Jimmy. Although where she was taking him made him curious. It was undoubtedly a beautiful location but it was still a beach. There was nothing here and Cindy was walking straight towards the giant mound.

As they got closer Jimmy saw a boulder leaning up against the mound. He looked up guessing that the mound was about 150 feet high. Remembering that he was in California he briefly thought to himself this would be a terrible place for an Earthquake to happen. A landslide would kill them on the spot. Why anyone would want to live in such a deadly area he had no idea. The thought made him shudder a little inside. Cindy gets up to the boulder and pulls it away from the wall. Jimmy sees that it was blocking a small tunnel. The tunnel was big enough for people to go through one at a time but was very tight. Jimmy was even more skeptical now.

"I hope you're not claustrophobic." Cindy said as she pulled out her keychain with a flashlight on it.

"Where are we going?" Jimmy asked concerned.

Cindy smiles and goes into the hole, crawling down the tunnel. A frustrated Jimmy looks at Goddard. Goddard shares Jimmy's look of concern but ultimately nods for him to go ahead.

Jimmy takes a deep breathe. "Stay behind me, boy." He slowly bends down and pops his head in. It's pitch black but he can see the waving of Cindy's flashlight. Rather than wasting more time being scared as he thought of it, Jimmy quickly began to crawl to catch up. Goddard entered right behind him. The mechanical canine recognized that apart from Cindy's flashlight there is no source of light. The dog instinctively turns on his emergency day mode. The entire tunnel lights up as if a light was set up every 5 feet. It made the tunnel look less scary and feel less cramped than earlier. Cindy shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness that entered the hole. Both of them had to cover their eyes briefly to adjust to the brightness. Once she saw it was okay Cindy turned off her flashlight and slid it back in her pocket. This time she could use both elbows to crawl allowing her to move faster. Jimmy followed at her pace straight down the tunnel.

After crawling for 5 minutes the space didn't grow or become tighter but it was becoming more unnerving. Jimmy looked back and couldn't find any sign of the opening. Up ahead there was nothing suggesting it would end either. At least nothing he could clearly see. Little bits of dirt fell on him. He still worried about the chances of an Earthquake happening, even if he knew it was unlikely.

"Where are going?" Jimmy asked getting more concerned.

Cindy kept moving forward. "Don't worry. We're almost there."

Back when they were kids this would've felt like a set up for some prank. His mind considered the possibility that this was some sick form of revenge. It even felt like she was leading him to his death in some ways. He knew he should be safe since it was unlikely Cindy would do something stupid like that, but crawling deep into a tunnel in California with no idea what awaited at the end of it was quite suspicious to begin with. He calmed himself down reminding himself that he could trust her. That is at the very least he could trust her to have his back should they be in danger. After all he would do the same for her. Besides this couldn't be revenge for anything. What had he done, right?... Right?

A black hole became more clear as they continued to crawl. It seemed like an opening was coming up. Cindy began to crawl faster as if she just wanted to be done with digging her elbows into the dirt. Jimmy tried to maintain the speed. Once Cindy made it through, Jimmy saw her get up only seeing the sight of her two feet. Behind her there seemed to be a small cave of some sort. He could see a couple of towels covered in dirt.

Jimmy made it to the end to find himself in a nice room like cave. There's a beach chair looking fairly dirty with a lantern next to it. Both items clearly had the name Vortex sharpied into them. _Clearly she's been here before._

Cindy looked to the mechanical canine who was just entering. "Goddard, do you have the two beach towels I asked for?" Goddard shoots them out of his back, the towels landing perfectly in place over some wet, soft sand. Cindy laid down on one of the towels. "Goddard: sleep mode."

The light goes away as Goddard obeys Cindy. Even the source of light from his head was powered down. It was pitch black. "WOAH!" Jimmy exclaims. Cindy turns on her flashlight to see a frightened Jimmy. She laughs a little. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Jimmy yells at her.

"Relax Neutron." She insisted still laughing.

"Relax? You drag me all the way here for 10 minutes and then you shut off our main source of light without telling me why it is we're here." Cindy smiles while Jimmy rants. "Seriously, can you just tell me why we're here."

"Just lay down."

"No! Tell me why I'm here!"

"Okay. Okay. We're at a place that's calm and quiet like you asked. Somewhere where you can forget about your worries."

"I didn't mean you should create new ones."

"You have nothing to worry about here. Just lay down."

"Do you realize how unsafe it is here?"

"Goddard can create a force field around us if anything falls. With him here this is the safest this place has ever been. Look just lay down and relax okay. If this doesn't work for you then bother me about it later." Cindy extends a hand out for him to come lay next to her. Jimmy is still hesitant. "It's not a trick, Jimmy." There it was. The use of his first name with such earnestness proved that he could trust her 100% at this moment. He gave in and laid down on the towel next to Cindy.

Cindy turned off her flashlight. It was now pure blackness in the cave. Not a single source of light available. It was unnerving how helpless Jimmy felt without any sight. It was 100% black and deadly quiet. The only thing he could hear was his fast breathing and Cindy's deep breaths. With no sight and no sounds from outside he felt vulnerable. It was almost like being close to death. But Cindy's breathing somehow gave him comfort. Even though he couldn't see it reminded him that he wasn't alone. Jimmy focused on the breathing and began to inhale and exhale at the same pace as she did. Jimmy began to feel more comfortable. His eyes remained open and took in the darkness in front of him. Suddenly Jimmy began to see things. He knew in the back of his mind nothing was in the room but this sensation was similar to seeing things with one's eyes closed as they're falling asleep. One could liken it to some form of meditation or lucid dreaming. Jimmy saw a bunch of white specks. They became more clear in the form of stars in outer space. Jimmy focused more and more on the image. He began to feel a floating sensation. His mind was completely immersed in the image in his head. He knew his body was in the cave but his focus was on outer space. He tunes out Cindy's breathing and only hears himself through a space helmet. The experience fills him with a childlike sense of awe, something he hasn't felt in a long, long time. It felt like he was really floating in deep space. No, it practically was floating in deep space and he was enjoying every second of the sensation. He didn't want to leave.

After what felt like hours and floating in zero gravity Cindy's phone alarm went off. Jimmy immediately snapped out of his trance. His eyes open wide but he could not move his body. He sees the light coming from Cindy's phone as she swipes her screen to stop the alarm.

"Wake up Goddard." Cindy ordered.

The mechanical canine powered back on. Jimmy felt his body again and sat up. He was getting tired of seeing Cindy have so much control over Goddard. He had to make a serious mental note of changing Goddard's obedience protocols. Cindy stood up and stretched her arms out. Jimmy did the same.

Jimmy yawned. "What time is it?"

"8:30am local time."

"What? That felt like hours. How can-"

"We've only been in here for 15 minutes." Jimmy was confused. Cindy smiled knowing Jimmy had a positive experience. "Come on, let's go back outside." Cindy went through the hole and began crawling.

Jimmy moved a bit slower this time processing his experience as he crawled through. Cindy was way ahead of him. His experience was not one that could be described as supernatural but merely a mental one. It was all psychological. But the setting of space had to be a metaphor for something. Once he reached the end of the tunnel he figured whatever was on his subconscious he'd have to figure out later.

As he crawled out he put his arm over his face. Being accustomed to the fake sunlight his eyes took a while to adjust to true sunlight. The weather outside was nice and breezy but surprisingly warm, especially for California in the winter. As his eyes came around Jimmy took in the beautiful sight of the beach. It was much brighter now than it was when they first arrived. It looked like a perfect summer day. But he couldn't see Cindy around at all. With her nowhere to be seen he started to become suspicious again. He was expecting some sort of prank to happen any second now. He still didn't understand why she brought him here of all places. Sure, his brief moment of clarity may have been exactly what he needed. He did feel more relaxed and was able to escape the problems that awaited him when he'd return back home. But for now it was nice to feel… well for lack of a better way of describing it he just felt up. Perfectly fine. Not great, not bad, just fine. It was a better feeling than being down all the time. His thoughts went back to Cindy. His eyes had now cleared up enough that he could see her. Far down near the water there was a large boulder which she sat on looking out into the ocean. On her own private little private island Jimmy was perplexed by the sight. He had never seen her brood before like that. It suddenly occurred to him that given what she was going through this trip was likely more for her than it was for him. She had her own secret spot as evidence by the items that had her name on them in the cave. He was just a guest going along for the ride. It was likely that he was one of the few (maybe even the only one) that was brought into the cave. He couldn't imagine she'd have much luck convincing others to go into that hole with her, especially when none of them had access to Goddard's artificial daylight like he did. Past experience had proven that he was one of the few Cindy was open and vulnerable towards.

Jimmy looked over to Goddard who had also been looking out at Cindy. "What did she have you pack?" Goddard opened up his back to reveal a basket. In it was swimwear for Jimmy, sun protection spray, the towels they used in the cave, and a lunch box big enough to fit a thanksgiving dinner. Jimmy was satisfied to see they at least had food. "Okay." He said nodding to Goddard in approval of the contents in the basket. Goddard closed himself back up. Jimmy patted Goddard's metallic muzzle and then made his way towards Cindy.

At the boulder he only saw her from behind. She sat perfectly still. It was impossible to tell whether she was happily taking in the view or sad thinking about problems back home. He climbed up and took a seat behind her.

"Hey!" He said.

Not hearing him approach she turned around surprised to see him. "Hey." Cindy replied back more morose.

"Everything okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Her tone was more defensive. It was enough for him to get an answer to his question.

"I don't know. You kind of seem down all of the sudden." He waited for her to respond. She just turned her back to him and lowered her head. "I'm just… I'm not really sure why we're here, Cindy."

"I told you. You said you wanted someplace quiet."

"I know. But it's kind of weird bringing me down some strange tunnel across the country with no explanation, don't you think? Would it really have killed you to tell me you were planning on going to a…" He paused thinking of the write word to pick. "Secret spot?" He said without confidence that those were the ideal words to use.

Cindy turns her head halfway making a little bit of eye contact. She let a little bit of a laugh before speaking. "You never would've gone if I gave you small details of this place."

Jimmy thought about it and then nodded. "Yeah, that's probably true."

Cindy turned her head back towards the ocean. The two sat in silence for a while. Jimmy looked down flicking his shoe lace thinking of what to say.

"It may have been exactly what I needed so… thank you, I guess." Jimmy looked up at her after that last statement expecting her to react in some way.

"I'm glad it worked for you in some way."

Silence fell. Jimmy went back to looking down at his shoe. A little under a minute later he spoke again. "How long have you known about this place. It's really an amazing spot."

"I found it Freshmen year. It's been my secret place to go to throughout college." Jimmy found out that his question of whether he was the first to be brought there had been answered. "Whenever I needed a break from classes or anything stressful I'd come here to calm down. It's sort of like therapy for me I guess. I just come here away from the outside world. Everything happening out here doesn't exist in there. I'm literally cut off from the outside world."

"The dark doesn't creep you out at all." Cindy turns to him looking somewhat insulted if that's even how she looked. "I mean night time is one thing. But in there that was pure darkness."

"It's nothing to worry about as long as you have a light." She pulled out her keychain as an example. "I always keep a spare battery. It'd be impossible to get out of there without any light."

Jimmy smiled and looked back down at his shoe. He looked back up later to see Cindy had reverted back to her brooding pose. He took a deep breathe. "Are you sure you're okay. I mean with Sheen and your…" He caught himself before saying the word. "You working long hours-"

"I know you know about my dad, Neutron. You don't have to pretend."

"Huh?"

She turned to face him. "Seriously Jimmy! Don't treat me like an idiot. Your mom works at the hospital and your dad has been visiting mine. I'm pretty sure you even saw us at the hospital once during my dad's chemo session. So don't insult me by pretending not to know."

Jimmy sat silently in shock at her statement. "I'm sorry." Was all he could think to say.

She turned away from him again keeping her gaze to her feet. "Don't worry about it."

Another uncomfortable silence passed. Jimmy was getting tired of those long, awkward pauses between the two of them. He tried to think of small talk topic to get them going. "Did you even know they were friends once. I just remember them hating each other."

"Yeah, our parents weren't the most friendly of neighbors. They were much closer in high school. I didn't ask what happened but I know my dad wants to set things right before he... goes." Jimmy was saddened to hear her say that last part. It was tragic that they could only wait for him to die. It sounded weird hearing her accept it in a weird way. She turned back to Jimmy. "Don't pity me, okay."

Jimmy looked back up and made eye contact. Despite how strong she appeared to be he could tell she was doing her best to hold back any emotion. He simply nodded back not wanting to dig any more into the subject. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her even if she asked him not to, but he knew that it wouldn't get in the way of how he treated her.

Jimmy looks out at the ocean while flicking his shoe lace with his right hand. A little bit far away Jimmy see's something a short distance away from the shoreline that catches his attention.

"Is that a coral reef down there?"

Cindy looks up to see what Jimmy is pointing at. "Yeah, there's quite a few in the area."

"Have you ever explored there?"

"No."

Jimmy stood up to get a better look. "Well lets go have a look."

Cindy is surprised by the proposal at first. "Do you have diving gear?" She asks assuming he's already prepared in some way since he made the offer.

"Not on me."

"If we only have swim suits how are we supposed to look around."

He looked down at her and smiled. "I've got it covered."

* * *

Back at the hovercar they change out of their normal clothes in privacy, each at the opposite side of the car. If one were to look they'd only see the other's forehead through the glass. Once Jimmy put on his standard blue swim trunks he opened the car door and reached into the glove compartment. He pulled out a small case with pills. Cindy had come around to the other side. She was in a black bikini. Jimmy snuck in a couple looks but tried to keep it subtle. He looked down and opened up his case. Little did he know Cindy was sneaking in some looks as well. The now adult genius wasn't buff but his body was decently toned.

"Here." Jimmy handed a pill to Cindy. "It allows you to breathe and see clearly underwater." He drops one pill into Cindy's open hand. "If we need any more I'll keep the case with me.

* * *

The two swam under water. The clarity of what they could see was unreal. The surface of the water looked beautiful from down below. Up ahead some stony corals came into view. Suddenly a pack of goldfish swam by them heading towards the reef. It become more clear the closer they got. The variety of marine life living on the reef was amazing. It was a whole different world.

"Wow." Cindy took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the sight. Even though the water was a little murky from ocean acidification it was still so colorful to the human eye that they couldn't help but be impressed.

"Come on. Let's look around." Jimmy swam towards some sponges.

* * *

"Are you kidding me, Vortex?"

Cindy was laying down on her stomach getting a tan. She was reading a magazine. She didn't bother taking her eyes away from the gossip articles.

"Can I get some peace and quiet for just half an hour?" She replied slightly annoyed like an older sister wanting privacy from her older brother.

"You've already been at it for 20 minutes. Is this really all you want to do today?"

"Go back in the water and do some research or whatever. We can hike later or something."

* * *

On the coral reef a starfish catches Cindy's attention. She can't help but be compelled to reach out and touch it.

Suddenly Jimmy comes up from behind and puts an arm around her breasts (in a non sexual way) to pull her back.

"Woah! What're you doing?" Jimmy shouted. Cindy was briefly shocked at what he just did. Jimmy quickly spoke again before Cindy had the chance to make the conversation about something else. "You can't touch those. They're poisonous. What're you thinking?"

"Not that species of starfish."

"Vortex, the crown-of-thorn is among one of the deadliest starfish in the ocean. If you come into contact with its thorns your skin will be swollen, you'll bleed a long time, need surgery to remove the tissue and be in severe pain for weeks.

"I know my marine biology, Neutron. That's not the crown-of-thorn starfish. You know not all starfish are poisonous."

"Well the crown-of-thorns is."

"There are not enough thorns and it's extremely dull. Look."

Cindy reached her hand to touch it but Jimmy just yanked her back.

"OW!"

* * *

Jimmy sat on the sand throwing the frisbee up in the air for Goddard to catch while he waited for Cindy to finish her tan.

"Hey Neutron." Cindy called out. "Can you do me a favor and pass me my suntan lotion. I need to add another layer."

A grumpy Jimmy who had been waiting forever went back to the hovercar to perform the errand for Cindy. Goddard stayed by his master's side.

Jimmy took the lotion from the front seat. As he was about to head towards her he stopped. Suddenly he had an idea. Jimmy grinned a little in a mischievous manner. He opened the lotion and dumped it into the sand. Goddard looked uncomfortable.

"Goddard, can you fill this up with whipped cream. Harden it up a tiny bit so she would be able to tell the difference between her lotion and this."

Goddard gave Jimmy a condescending look.

"Don't worry, if she gets burned I'll reverse it later. You have my Neutron Skin Spray. It'll be fine. Besides I have to even the playing field after earlier."

* * *

Jimmy searches through some Mollusks. He gets a brief glimpse inside one to find a Pearl inside. He looks around to make sure Cindy's not around. Satisfied, Jimmy opens it up and takes the Pearl. He quickly places it inside a sample bag and puts it in his pocket.

Suddenly Jimmy felt a tug from the back of his swim trunks. A small, soft substance pokes around through the inside of his trunks. The bubbles that shoot out from his suit freak him out. Jimmy panicked trying to get it out. He could hear a watery but distinctive laugh. He finally gets a grip on the substance and pulls it out, throwing it away from him. Cindy was behind him laughing.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! I MIGHT BE INFECTED NOW! I TOLD YOU THAT STARFISH WAS POISONOUS!"

"Oh, relax Neutron. It was just a gag."

"A GAG! I MIGHT NEED SURGERY IN PLACES I DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT RIGHT NOW! WHY WOULD YOU DROP A STARFISH DOWN MY SUIT?"

"Calm down. It wasn't a starfish." Cindy pointed down at the bottom of the reef. "It was just a yellow sponge." She then pointed at a piece of fruit. "I found it next to that pineapple down over there."

* * *

Thirty minutes had passed and Jimmy was still bored waiting for Cindy to finish her tan. He watches as the tide begins to rise a little. He laughs a little at the thought of his idea. He holds his watch out and positions it to shoot a small force field at Cindy. He lifts up the field having Cindy floating in the air. He brings her just above the water. As it recedes he puts her back down just before the next wave hits. Like a school boy he eagerly anticipates the upcoming wave. It crashed at the perfect moment on Cindy. She flailed around screaming as Jimmy sat back laughing. When she got on her two feet she saw the genius unable to contain his laughter. Cindy was furious.

* * *

"Cindy slow down!"

Jimmy was exhausted from walking uphill on the hiking trail. He wasn't in any shape that this activity just exhausted him. He wasn't a match to Cindy's athleticism. Instead she just ran faster.

* * *

Goddard unpacks a frozen yogurt maker with only strawberry flavor.

Jimmy and Cindy sit back on the sand and relax enjoying their refreshing treat.

Jimmy began to talk, "You know I kinda regret not going here for school." Cindy turns her head to him surprised. "It's really nice and there's a lot to explore in the ocean. The weather's nice. Especially right now. East coast winters are the worst."

"Yeah, but you would've gone to Harvard anyway."

"Why would you say that Vortex?"

"Because Harvard is Harvard. You'd be crazy not to go. And I know you're terrified of Earthquakes."

Jimmy gulped remembering that they're in the worst spot if "the big one" was to hit at that moment.

* * *

Jimmy finally makes it at the top of the hill panting. He takes a drink out of his canteen.

Cindy had no difficulty standing. "God, you're so slow."

"Says the expert who's probably done this a hundred times. You could've told me that we had to climb a wall of rocks back there."

"I just assumed you made some dorky invention that would allow you to jump over them."

Jimmy laughs sarcastically. He puts his canteen down.

He looks out at the view. They are practically at the very top spot around within 20 miles or so. On one side is a view of the city, the other of the ocean.

"It's a really nice view." He said to Cindy.

Cindy looked longing out into the ocean, noting that the waves were getting bigger. "Do you surf?" She asked.

"No." He shook his head.

"That's too bad. The waves are getting pretty big. It looks like a perfect day for it… Eh, what am I thinking. I didn't even bring my board anyway."

An old familiar impulse to invent unconsciously hit Jimmy. He effortlessly scanned his surroundings. His eyes lasered on a large tree.

* * *

"Do you want to do something else? This is getting kind of boring."

Jimmy and Cindy had been throwing a frisbee back and forth.

"You got any ideas?" He asked.

"Well we could go back to the reef."

"No, I'm out of pills."

"Surf?"

"Nice try but I don't trust you."

"Okay, I got it. We keep throwing this frisbee but let's raise the stakes and make it more interesting."

Jimmy became intrigued. "Elaborate."

"We throw and the first person to drop it has to do something for the other."

"And what's that?"

"I don't know. Um… You know what, let's just keep this simple. Loser has to buy the other person a drink."

"Okay, I can do that. But we have to make fair throws. You can't just aimlessly throw and expect me to catch it."

"I'm not the one that's gonna cheat, Neutron."

* * *

Jimmy hangs his legs on a branch using the laser on his watch to carefully cut the wood into the shape of a board.

"You're gonna fall and crack your head open if you do it like that."

"Vortex, will you shut up and let me concentrate. Need I remind you that I'm cutting this into the perfect shape just so you can go out there and enjoy surfing."

He turns his head back to the task at hand but fidgets his hand while doing so. He cuts too deep into the tree causing a spark to fly into his face. Jimmy flinches away causing him to lose his balance and fall off the branch. Cindy instinctively jumps forward to catch him. The boy genius lands in Cindy's arms as she manages to keep standing. He uncovers his face that was shielded by his arms and realizing the emasculating position he's in. Jimmy quickly gets loose from her hold and goes back up to the tree ignoring Cindy's attempt at containing her laughter.

* * *

The two had been throwing the frisbee for 30 minutes.

"Yeah, this is still kind of boring. You wanna call it quits."

"You're gonna back out now? This was your idea, Vortex?"

"Well we're both making good throws and nothings happening."

"How about we each take 10 steps back and raise the stakes a bit?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Jimmy thinks about it for a second. "A favor."

"That's it?"

"A favor that can be anything and the loser can't back out of it. Also we throw in the drink on top of that."

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Cindy?"

"You'll be fine. You don't need any of you gadgets and gizmos for this. Just stand up straight and let the wave take you. It's fun. Trust me."

"Okay." Jimmy began to take steps towards the water.

Cindy had a devious smile on her face. He didn't realize that she tied the leash of the board to his swim trunks.

* * *

It was close to sundown. For three hours they had been throwing that frisbee back and forth. They would take even more steps back to make the game interesting. It was really getting to be competitive now.

Cindy made one final, determined flow. It flew up in the air perfectly heading towards Jimmy. Suddenly a gust of wind came in and completely threw off the trajectory of the frisbees. Jimmy saw and it ran. The frisbee was now heading towards the water. He ran as fast as he could as the frisbee plummeted down. Jimmy was so close. He made a leap into the water, his arms forward trying to catch the yellow disc. He missed and bellyfloped into the water. The frisbee floated on the surface. Jimmy got back up frustrated. He grabbed the frisbee and began walking back towards Cindy.

"Well it looks like you owe me a special favor."

"No way, Vortex. You saw that yourself. That wasn't a fair throw."

"Always the sore loser. Neutron, I threw it fair and square."

"You saw the wind threw it off."

"We agreed not make poor throws on purpose. My toss was good. We didn't say anything about an occurrence in nature throwing off the game."

"Oh come on. You know that's a technicality."

"Yes Neutron, it is a technicality. You make it sound like it's irrelevant but it's a detail nonetheless. I only played by the rules fair and square." She had him there and he knew it. "So when do you want to buy me that drink?"

* * *

"Come on Vortex, give them back!"

Jimmy stood in the water while Cindy held onto the surfboard with Jimmy's swimsuit attached to the leash.

"You can come over here and get them. I'm not doing anything to stand in your way."

"Seriously, I'm not playing games."

"You shouldn't have anything to be embarrassed about. It's not like anything I haven't seen before. And don't worry, I won't judge. I totally understand that it's cold down there."

"Goddard, fetch me my swim shorts boy."

Goddard didn't move an inch.

"Oh, I may have given him an order a long time ago that he couldn't take any objects from me if I'm holding them. Or something along those lines."

Jimmy was quietly furious. He lowered his head into the water and swam away.

* * *

After 15 minutes Cindy sat back drinking some ice tea. She watched at Jimmy swam back to the shore. When he arrived he stood on his two feet holding kelp around his private areas. Cindy sat back and watched as he went to the hovercar to change back into his regular clothes.

* * *

At sunset Jimmy sat around a bonfire eating s'mores Goddard had packed. Cindy was at the hovercar spraying on the sunburn ointment that Jimmy had invented. Even if she possibly infected him with poisonous marine life or temporarily stole his swim trunks he had to admit it was a fun day. It felt nothing like Christmas but it was fun. Even though he heard her yelling in pain as the spray stung her he was pretty sure she wasn't mad either. After all she did win and got a free favor she could ask of him anytime she wanted. Their relationship was a weirdly competitive one. It couldn't be healthy for them but somehow it made sense.

Cindy came back with a pissed off look on her face. She looked fine now. She was definitely more tan but her sunburn was gone. She took a seat without looking at him and grabbed a marshmallow. Jimmy chuckled to himself.

"What?"

"Ah, nothing." It was silent for a bit before he spoke again. "I was just thinking. Our relationship is a weird one."

Cindy chuckles a little bit, letting her momentarily sore attitude go away. It was silent again as the two thought back on old times. "Why is it that we started fighting anyway?"

"You and me? Ha. I remember pretty well: You gave me attitude my first day in 3rd grade."

"I don't remember that. I remember you embarrassing me on my presentation of ant colonies in front of the entire class."

"On my first day I was looking for Ms. Fowl's room. You walked by and I asked you for help. You shoved me aside and said "Out of my way, freak!"

"What? That is not something I would do."

"Are you kidding? Aside from the fact my head was weirdly huge it'd be difficult for anyone not to poke fun at it, you were always one of the toughest kids in school. You also pushed around Carl and Sheen and a ton of other people."

"Okay, I may have had a little temper. But I wasn't that mean." She then looked to Jimmy with doubts. "Was I?"

"Well you weren't like Butch." He took his marshmallow from the fire and set it on crackers. "What ever happened to that guy?"

"He moved to Wyoming with Bolbi. They're 'together' raising sheep." Cindy said putting air quotes on the word "together."

"Huh… Funny how that works out."

Silence fell as the two looked at the fire. Cindy was the first to speak again. "If I never bumped into you how different do you think our relationship would've been." She asked.

"It wouldn't be different. I still would've called you out for being wrong and you'd get hotheaded and we'd start to fight."

"Jerk." She said in a lighthearted way.

"Not that that's a bad thing. That's one thing I like about you." Cindy looked at him surprised. "You always were a bit of a reality check. In my old home before Retroville everyone assumed I was right about everything. In Retroville it's sort of the same with everyone else. But you were the only one questioning my every move. It was probably what I needed to keep my ego from growing. You probably saved me from becoming the Justin Bieber of the science community."

Cindy was surprised to hear him somewhat admit to having a giant ego.

"You know I honestly don't think I would've built the lab if you never challenged me into it. I never would've been able to do a lot of things if you hadn't pushed me to."

"Come on. Stop being nice. You know you hated me back then."

"On the surface yeah. But honestly I always thought it. About the lab specifically. I would never have built it if you told me I couldn't."

* * *

On the ride back they were both quiet. Jimmy hadn't said a word after he gave Cindy credit for being an influence to him. He tried to be nice but she seemed more upset since he said it. It was nothing but awkward after.

It was a long ride back and the closer they got to Retroville the more like their day seemed like a dream. Reality was coming back for Jimmy: he had no job, one of his best friends was in the hospital, and no idea of where to take his future. It all came crashing back like a freight train.

Jimmy landed the car in his driveway. He looked to Cindy who returned his gaze.

"Thanks." He said. "I had fun, I really did. I think it was what I needed."

"Good. I'm glad." An awkward silence falls. "So I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, definitely. I have to buy you that drink soon anyway."

Cindy laughs a little. "Okay. Good night Jimmy." She opened the door and left.

Everything just felt sad again. It was like the day had not been real. Yet he could tell that what he was feeling must've been worse for Cindy. As much as she tried to hide it he knew things were a disaster for her and she didn't have Libby around for comfort like old times. She was alone. He got out of the car impulsively.

"Cindy!" Jimmy called out to her before she took her first step off of the driveway. She turned around to face him. By that time Jimmy was 3 feet away. He opened up his arms and put them around her tight.

"Everything will be okay, right?" He said not realizing he may have been about to cry. "I mean we have to be okay. It has to work out." Jimmy originally planned on giving her some comfort but it suddenly seemed more like he was looking for some in return.

Cindy was caught off guard by his sudden hug. He arms slowly left her waist and she embraced Jimmy back with comfort. Jimmy didn't let a tear or sob slip but he felt like he was about to burst. Cindy breaks the hug and gives Jimmy one last look. She tried to be comforting but share the same gaze of confusion and uncertainty for what was ahead.

"I'll talk to you soon." That was all she said as she turned around and walked away.

Jimmy watched her go. "Hey Cindy!" He called her out as she was halfway across the street. She turned around to look at him. "Merry Christmas."

She returned a light smile. "Merry Christmas Jimmy." She turned around and kept walking.

* * *

Jimmy sat in his room looking at his window. Across the street Cindy's curtains were closed. Thinking of Cindy reminded him he forgot to give her a present. He pulled out the sample bag from his pocket. It was too late now. He stored it in his desk drawer till he could give it to her later.

Even though he spent the whole day with her he suddenly felt uneasy being alone. He was afraid of reverting back to his routine of doing nothing. With nothing to do he went to his computer and opened up Facebook. As expected were a bunch of family photos and status' of how great everyone's Christmas was.

Suddenly Jimmy received a strange IM. It was a message from himself that read "HelP!21! in lAb/plEazW hewp." The computer screen immediately begun flashing red. VOX took over his screen. "ALERT. ALERT. INTRUDER IN THE LAB. INTRUDER IN THE LAB."

Jimmy bolted out of the house and ran to the club house. There were no signs of forced entry. Jimmy took the emergency entrance through the slide.

He fell on the ground coughing through the dust that filled that entrance. It had been a long time since anyone had used it. He looked around and noted that the room seemed cleaner with more floor space. He saw a bunch of notebooks perfectly stacked together next to the shrink ray.

He suddenly heard a faint loud screech coming from his monitor. Jimmy ran to check it out to find Jerry screeching in pain, rolling all over the keyboard of the main computer. He saw a small, shrunken version of the brain drain/gain helmet next to one of the keyboard keys. Jerry's head had clearly grown a little with veins pulsing out. It looked like his brain might exploded as Jerry continued to roll around uncontrollably shrieking in pain.


	19. Chapter 19-And So It Begins

"VOX, I need a tranquilizer. of barbiturate!"

"REQUEST DENIED. CANNOT CONFIRM ORDER."

"VOX, it's me. Jimmy."

"REQUEST DENIED. CANNOT CONFIRM ORDER."

Jimmy quickly got up and raced to his medical cabinet at the corner of his lab. The dust covered locker had small capsules of barbiturate in a container with syringes right next to it. The painful screech was so unnerving it would normally freak anyone else out. Jimmy didn't lose focus.

He ran back with the needle in hand ready to go. The mouse was still flailing around everywhere. There was no way Jerry would stay still to make the injection work.

"Sorry buddy." Jimmy grabbed Jerry. The mouse started shrieking even louder than before whilst knawing uncontrollably at his hand. Jimmy tightened his grip to keep him. It clearly hurt, but there was nothing else that could be done. He quickly jabbed the needle into the skin, injecting what was in the entire capsule. Even though it must've hurt, Jimmy kept his grip as the mouse's flailing ceased. There were cuts all over. The gnawing slowed down. He put Jerry back down on the keyboard. All Jerry did was breathe deeply.

Goddard suddenly entered the lab through his own special entrance.

"Oh good." Jimmy was slightly relieved. "I need you, boy. Scan." He ordered pointing at Jerry.

Goddard used his eyes to perform a scan on Jerry's brain. His monitor opened up for Jimmy to see the results.

"Pukin pluto." Jimmy said to himself in shock. He didn't catch the subtle smirk Goddard made upon hearing that remark for the first time in years. What Jimmy saw was that the glial cells in the brain were completely human. Not one single trace of his mouse identity could be found. This could no doubt be traced to Carvey's idiocy and incompetence. But what really shocked Jimmy was that the cells were multiplying at a fast rate. The mouses IQ was growing dangerously fast. He had seen this happen before with Sheen. Jerry was much too small for an incident to happen on that level, but the results would be the same if Jimmy didn't stop it.

The brain drain helmet was completely busted. He couldn't fix it because the shrink ray was nowhere in sight. However there was a mech suit Jerry was building on the desk. The freeze ray was hanging off of one of the arms. Jimmy grabbed a pen in order to hit the shrunken button. He set Jerry on the ground and aimed the ray straight for him. Freezing him alive would stop the cells from growing. He hit the button and the ray shot out much smaller than before. Fortunately it was enough given Jerry's size.

After placing Jerry in a freezer he went to his computer. There were schematics for the suit, showing growth and shrink abilities. It was clearly meant to be a weaponized suit. Jimmy minimized the schematics and found the website for Carvey's company was open, with the address of the location highlighted.

Suddenly Jimmy's phone started ringing. His screen said Cindy was the contact.

"Hello."

"Jimmy, you have to come to the hospital right away." Cindy stressed urgently.

"What happened to Sheen?" He asked assuming something had happened.

"Sheen's fine. Nothing happened. I'm here with him now. But you're going to want to come here."

"What is it?"

* * *

Jimmy was speeding down the road as fast as he could without putting lives in danger. Far ahead he saw there were flashing lights and smoke. Clearly there was a fire. The street he was on was heading towards Carvey's building. Jimmy didn't need to see to confirm that was the building. He already had reason to believe Jerry started the fire. When he passed it a quick glance made it clear that the fire started on the fourth floor since that's where most of the damage was. Jimmy started speeding fast.

* * *

He ran into the hospital where Judy was at the front desk. "Hey sweetie." She said trying to be nice but could tell something was wrong.

"Carvey Avid! Where is he?" Jimmy asked urgently.

Judy looked through the list of patients.

"He had to be admitted recently." Jimmy added.

"He's in critical. Fifth floor. Room 503."

"Thank you, mom." Jimmy ran again.

"Hey, no running in the hospital." Judy shouted but Jimmy kept going.

He ran up the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. He thought of nothing else. He didn't even know yet what to get out of Carvey. He just knew he had to see this for himself.

He burst through the door not thinking about if people were in the way and ran down the hallway. 503 was not far. He quickly made it to the room. But right when he did the doctor placed a sheet over Carvey's badly burned head, covering his body. Jimmy looked at the clipboard on the door listing Carvey's name. Unfortunately he was at the right room. He couldn't get any information on what happened. Carvey Avid was dead.

* * *

_18 hours later_

The little mouse woke up feeling groggy. He was able to get up on his two feet. Right next to him was a reflection through glass. In the reflection he said his head was slightly bigger than that of the normal mouse. This change was permanent and would always distinguish him from others of his kind. The glial cells had stopped growing. He was now at a fixed IQ. His brain chemistry was now permanently transformed and he was mentally 100% human in a physical mouse body. The sight was a lot to take in,

Jerry placed a paw on the glass. On his wrist there was something resembling a human wrist watch. On it were keys with human letters following the same pattern of a computer keyboard. Jerry put his paw down and looked through the glass. He was still in Jimmy's lab. looking longingly to be out of this cage. All his life he had been contained and he was beyond tired of it.

Suddenly Jerry hears a metallic tap coming from up above. He looks up. The lid for the cage isn't closed. He eyes wonder over to a tree that is tall enough to reach the top. He ran to it and tried to climb his way up from the bottom but his arms were too small to wrap around the tree. He quickly scanned the rest of the cage. There was a barn just like the one at Carvey's lab. The roof tipped all the way to the ground, functioning like a ramp. He quickly ran up on the roof to the top. At the top it seemed conveinent that he could step on a branch of the tree. He ran to it and kept climbing the tree from there. He was getting close to the top. Close to freedom. Jerry jumps for the edge of the cage. Suddenly the lid closes of the cage. Jerry hits the glass, unable to grab the edge. He fell straight to the bottom landing on his back.

Jimmy gave the mouse an almost menacing glare. He took a seat in his chair, his eyes laser focused on Jerry. "Talk!"

Jerry rolled over standing on all fours. Jimmy motioned towards the wristwatch. Jerry had the appearance of not getting it. "Go ahead." Jimmy continued to push. The mouse was unresponsive. Jimmy was getting impatient. "I know you don't have the vocal cords to respond and I'm guessing you don't trust me but need I remind you that you called me down here. If I didn't come down you would be dead by now. So talk." Jimmy gestured again toward the watch.

Slowly, Jerry began to get up on his two feet, standing up nice and tall like a human. Despite his small size, his stature was fairly intimidating. If he was human size he'd be able to physically harm Jimmy, no doubt about it. Jimmy couldn't tell what was being emoted behind those eyes, but he felt it was something that communicated anger.

"Okay,,," Jimmy gestured not showing that he was slightly intimated.

Jerry looks around to evaluate his position. He finally types. "_Are you going to hurt me?"_

"Hurt you?" Jimmy asks surprised at the both the question but also in awe that he was able to type back. He didn't emote anything that suggested the later. "I think the real question is if you want to hurt me." He points at the mech suit, now enlarged with every weapon out like a swiss army knife. "Or if you're going to try to hurt anyone else." Jimmy added.

Jerry missed Jimmy's specific inflection on the word "else" in Jimmy's question. Regardless he still struggled to come up with an answer.

"What're you doing with it?"

Jerry took a second before typing. "_You don't know how scary going outside is. You've always been the way you are."_

Jimmy actually did understand. After all he used the shrink ray on himself and others before. He knew how scary it was to be small. Even when he didn't use it he'd faced dinosaurs and other creatures that were enormous compared to him. But it was always temporary.

"The weapons are a bit extreme, don't you think?" Jimmy pointed out at the guns, rays, and sharp ends armed on the mech suit.

Jerry typed again. "_Protection."_

_"_Looks more like for destruction to me."

"_I was in lab. In cage. Will never happen again." _Jerry typed urgently, skipping a few words in his sentences to make his point clear.

Jimmy couldn't help but feel for the little guy. But there wasn't much he could do. Even a human with this much technology and weaponry would be dangerous to let loose upon society. "Well you're back in a cage now. Sealed, bullet proof glass. And after what you did I don't see why I'd let you leave."

_"Are you going to hurt me?" _Jerry typed again urgently.

"Why'd you kill him?" Jimmy asked seriously.

_"What?"_

"Visitor." VOX notified Jimmy.

There's a knock on the door. "We'll finish this later. VOX, put him on lockdown and make security as tight as possible."

"Confirmed Jimmy." Vox confirmed the command.

* * *

Outside Carl is at the door of the clubhouse. Jimmy came out holding two gas masks in his hand and wearing a backpack. Goddard came out behind him.

"Hey, Jim. I got here as soon as I could."

"Here." Jimmy tossed Carl a mask. "You're gonna need that."

"What's going on?"

"We're going out tonight. Get in the car." Jimmy kept walking forward with purpose.

"What's with the masks?"

"You said you wanted one last adventure before you go. Well you got one."


	20. Chapter 20-The Break In

The hover car sat on top of a building a few blocks away from Jimmy's old workplace. There were police vehicles, fire trucks, and even black SUV's. From the distance they could see all sorts of people going in and out wearing radiation suits.

"This is really serious." Carl looked through Jimmy's binoculars.

Jimmy looked over to his mechanical canine. "Goddard?" He ordered. His most trusted companion looked back at him and nodded understanding what his instructions were. The dog looked straight at the site of destruction. His pupils changed to Orange and faded to a darker Red as he scanned the sight. Goddard opened his screen and flashed the results. It was a large data graph with chemicals listed. Jimmy had a quick look.

"Oh shit, what did you do Carvey?" He said to himself shocked at the results.

"What is it? Is it safe?" Carl asked.

"Something in there released enough radioactive particles making it unsustainable to live within a one block radius of the building." Jimmy explained.

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that-"

"Retroville now has it's own little Chernobyl down the corner. It won't be livable for another 5,000 years at least." Jimmy opened up his backpack and began digging through it.

Carl looked back out at the site in shock. "Of all the damage you've caused in this town nothing can compare to this."

"It wasn't me, Carl." Jimmy pulled out a block the size of his cellphone and activated it.

Carl looked back to Jimmy as he was assembling small wings on the block. "So what happened here?"

The winged extensions snapped onto the block. Jimmy pressed a button as they started rotating. "That's what we're here to find out." Jimmy stands up and throws the block in the air.

The block flies quite a ways away until it starts to descend looking like it'll crash. Suddenly the wings began rotating aggressively and the drone flew towards the building on it's own.

Jimmy went inside the backseat of the hovercar where his seats moved around becoming computer chairs, one for him and Carl. The windows became monitors, showing the internal camera perspective of the drone going inside the building. The drone came to a standstill. Jimmy pulled up the clicker for the seatbelt, making it into a joystick to navigate the drone through the building. Carl watched in awe witnessing this set-up inside the hovercar for the first time.

The drone entered the fourth floor office. The damage was severe. Everything was burnt. Walls were gone. Holes were all over the floor and ceiling. Things were falling all over.

"Woah." Carl quietly reacted. "I didn't think fires looked this bad." He said both impressed and disturbed.

"It looks more like a bomb than a fire." Jimmy replied as he carefully navigated the drone down the office hallway.

Carl looked over to Jimmy. "You're saying this was a bomb."

"This whole building is covered in radiation, Carl. An explosion was more likely the cause than a first."

"You haven't yet told me why we're here."

"I hid a camera a few months ago. I need to see the footage on it."

"I doubt it's still around. Look at it. Everything's gone."

"It's made of protective steel. I shrunk it so no one could see it. It should still be recording right now. I just have to find it before someone else does."

"You can't just stream the footage to yourself?"

"It was too risky. I didn't want to get caught opening a wifi network. Everything is in that camera's memory drive."

The drone flew to the door of the office lab. Jimmy carefully made a turn to enter the lab until he saw a flashlight shining on the walls. Two agents in radiation suits are looking through a fireproof box. Jimmy notices the journal he took notes with is in there. "Odd." He said to himself since there was never a fireproof safe. He assumed that Jerry placed the notes in there somehow, even if he couldn't think of why since they were useless to begin with.

Suddenly Jimmy could hear a radio call through his monitor. "_Johnson, you're 15 minutes are up. Get back down here now before the radiation eats through your suits."_

One of the agents began talking. "_Copy. We do have something here. A bunch of notes kept in a fireproof safe. It's completely radiated. We're gonna need a team to come up here with a container to carry it."_

"_Roger, Johnson. A two-man team is being called in. Careful going down those stairs."_

_"Roger." _Agent Johnson responded. He turned to his partner. "_Come on, I'm already feeling dizzy just being here."_

The two slowly made their way out the door. Jimmy lowered the drone as low as he could to not be seen in the light. The propellers rotating at the minimum speed possible. While it was still on he began to scan a corner of the wall. The drone detected a small spot. Jimmy blew up the screen and found the camera.

"Yes! It's still there." He exclaimed in relief.

He got the propellers to rotate faster as he went for the camera.

"So what do we do?" Carl asked.

"Well, it's simple Carl. I have the remote for the camera on the drone so I can open the slot with the drive that contains the footage. I take it out and I just fly it back to us."

"But won't the drone be covered in radiation?"

"I have a container in the back seat that should hold it. We'll be fine. As long as the building doesn't fall on us this thing's a piece of cake."

Jimmy pushed a button to open the memory slot on the camera. The protective metal plating unlocked and ejected a small drive bigger than an SD card with a year's worth of free space to record footage. Two mechanical arms extended out and reached for the card. Jimmy slowly, steadily piloted the drone so the arms could slip into place. It was difficult to get the precise grip given that he had shrunk the camera to begin with. It kept going closer and closer.

Suddenly the drone began to shake on the screen. The joystick was shaking aggressively. Jimmy held it steady as best as he could. But then… SMASH! The drone fell straight to the ground landing on its back, The lens was pointing straight to the ceiling where it was directly under a hole. Another piece of debris fell landing straight on the lens. The monitor immediately went to static with the words OFFLINE flashing in bold red.

"FUCK!" Jimmy yelled. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!"

Carl stood back uncomfortably watching his friend meltdown. He had no idea how to calm Jimmy on this one. He barely knew why the footage was so important. He just watched him vent.

Jimmy kept his head down and took deep breathes in an effort to calm down. Now he was in trouble. The camera was inaccessible before to anyone but himself. Now he had the slot opened for the agents that were on their way. No doubt they'd find the drone since they were still sweeping the place. Then they would have some questions for him. He didn't know what agency was at work, but he knew that infiltrating a government operation would not result in anything good. Suddenly he remembered that the commanding voice on the other end of the line had said they were calling in a separate team. He didn't say how long it would take the team to arrive, but it was better than nothing. He turned to Carl with an idea. Carl noted the grin on Jimmy's face. He knew what it meant. The only thing missing was Jimmy's once popular "Brainblast" catchphrase.

"What is it?" Carl asked.

Jimmy got out of the car and turned to his mechanical canine. "Goddard?" The dog looked back at him. "Scan a couple radiation suits and print out new ones that fit my size and Carl's. When we're out there you'll stay in the car and keep watch on this one, boy. I can't sneak you in with me."

The dog looked out to the site and scanned the radiation suits. He then went to the back of the hovercar to 3D print them.

"What's going on?" Carl asked confused.

Jimmy walked back to the car to get his backpack. "The pick up team is on their way. We're going in as them before they even arrive."

"Wait." Carl stopped Jimmy from walking" We're going in there?" Carl asked worried.

"I need you to go through that box and pick out notes-"

Carl quickly interrupted Jimmy and shook his head. "I can't do, Jim. No way. I can't do it."

"Come on Carl. You said you'd help. You said you wanted an adventure." Jimmy casually responded, not noting how this was affecting Carl.

Carl's breathing went faster. "This is different. We've been on a lot of dangerous adventures before but this is different." Carl began to rant really fast. "You saw what it was like inside. That building can fall any second. And if we're in there too long we can be radiated and-"

Jimmy put a hand over Carl's mouth. "Have you got your inhaler." Carl quickly nodded. He reached in his pocket. When he took it out his hands were shaking. Jimmy grabbed it from Carl before he had the chance to drop it. He put it in his mouth and gave him some air. "Relax, okay." Carl calmed down, taking deep breathes.

Seeing Carl panic made Jimmy rethink his strategy. He was incredibly laser focused on his goal that he wasn't thinking about his or Carl's safety. But now he had to change his approach. "Look, I know it's bad. I know it's scary. And I don't want to go in there either but I have to. Now I'm not going to force you to go. I can find a way to do this alone if I have to. But I really want you to come with me." Carl had settled down and was feeling calm. Still scared, but more calm. He looked at Jimmy seriously processing what he asked of him. "I really need your help here." Jimmy added.

Carl seriously considered it. He looked out to the site of the badly damaged building and thought about what it was like inside. The thought made him swallow his throat.

* * *

The two walked towards the building wearing radiation suits, holding a large but light metal container. Jimmy parked the hover car a solid distance away from the site so they could approach unnoticed. Carl was at the tail with his head down. He kept breathing as calmly as he could. It didn't help that he felt a little claustrophobic in the suit.

"Just keep your head down. Don't make eye contact. Look only at the container." Jimmy made himself clear. "We're wearing the same suit. We look like we belong here, okay."

"Got it." Carl responded still nervous.

Jimmy lead the way as they walked through the site. Carl kept his head down. There were a bunch of tents pitched up. All Jimmy could see were shadows that were moving around. A bunch of people in suits were walking around. They all looked busy and didn't think twice about Jimmy or Carl walking through. They looked like anybody else walking through the building.

Jimmy looked up at the building. There were tiny bits of debris still falling. Suddenly the building made an audible creaky sound. No one gave it attention since they'd been used to hearing it but it put Jimmy and Carl on edge. Still, in order to maintain appearances Jimmy kept them moving forward and into the building.

* * *

Walking up the stairs with caution, Jimmy and Carl made it up to the fourth floor. The walk was unnerving as they kept hearing debris drop down to the bottom of the stairs. More creaking only freaked them out more. Carl had to keep himself calm taking deep breaths on his own since he could not take off the suit and get his inhaler. Jimmy was no doubt scared, but he was dedicated to make it out of there with that footage.

They put down the container. Jimmy opened in and took out his backpack, the only item inside. Carl was relieved to be getting a break but Jimmy went straight for the lab.

"Wait! Jim!" Carl took his first step about to run but stopped when he felt part of the ground shift. Jimmy heard the floor crack and turned around immediately.

"Careful." Jimmy said quietly in order not to set Carl on edge.

"Sorry." Carl lightly took his foot off the clear footprint he had made with that huge step. "Don't we need that container?"

Jimmy opened his backpack and took out the hypercube. "Here." He handed it off to Carl. "It'll be much easier if you put what you find in here." Carl took the cube. "Anything that we can use you put in here. Notes, Paperwork. Anything that looks valuable." Jimmy added.

"What about the radiation?" Carl asked.

"I'll worry about that back in the lab. Now come on. Watch your step this time."

Carl followed Jimmy down the hallways and into the lab. Using a flashlight to scope out the place, there wasn't anything useful he could find that was worth putting in the hypercube. Everything was burnt to ash that you could hardly say there was a physical, tangible object in the ground-zero office.

Jimmy went straight to the lab while Carl looked around a bit longer. He managed to keep his focus on retrieving what he could find that by know he was unconsciously taking deep breathes to keep himself calm. There wasn't anything in Carvey's office but ash. He did find a fireproof box that looked similar to the one he saw earlier on Jimmy's monitor. Carl tried to open but it was locked. Having no time to look for the keys, he figured he should just take it and let Jimmy find a way of opening it later. Carl remembered how the hypercube worked, but it still bothered him that the cube was much smaller than the box itself. He set the cube on the floor and lifted the box directly over it in preparation to make the drop. He was ready. All he had to do was let go and that should've been it. However the sound of the floor creaking wasn't exactly a comforting one. Carl went back to focusing on his breathing. He closed his eyes and kept himself calm enough to think. Finally he opened his eyes and came up with a safer, more comforting idea. Carl got on his knees. He turned the box sideways and held it up from one side, carefully putting the other end inside the cube. It bent and slipped into the cube like a glove. Carl felt comfortable enough to let go. The rest of the box slipped in easily. He took a very deep breathe of relief.

* * *

After exploring the rest of the office Carl had found nothing. The last spot for him to go was the lab. He went in to see Jimmy standing on a chair with a pair of magnifying goggles and a tweezer. He saw nothing of use but the box that was on the monitor earlier. The box was still open from earlier.

"You're still looking for it?" Carl asked.

"I got the card. I'm just trying to unscrew the camera from the wall. Someone tampered with it. It might be useful to have to look at what they did." Jimmy stopped for a second and looked over at Carl. One arm was still pressing against the wall with the tweezers. "By the way, can you pick up the drone here and put it in the hypercube before I forget?"

"Yeah." Carl said immediately doing what he was asked,

"Thanks Carl." Jimmy said as he was getting back to work. "Just get those notebooks and I'll be done in a bit."

"Sure Jim."

"I really appreciate your help, buddy."

"Yeah." Carl turned around and said to himself.

He was willing to help his friend out but he definitely didn't like how uncomfortable he felt. He was glad that all he had to do now was put the notebooks in the hypercube.

Carl sat on the ground in front of the box. He began to put the notebooks in the hypercube one by one.

It didn't seem to urgent to leave so Carl decided to flip through just one of the notebooks. It was one with still photos intended to be shown to investors. Jimmy hadn't been aware of the existence of this one. The photos are of Jerry. Carl saw the beginning of the process where Jimmy gave the mouse injections. Jimmy became less present in the later photos, but that wasn't something Carl thought about. Carl opened a tab titled "UNUSEABLE." He looked through the photos in the tab which contained photos of shock therapy and maze experiments. As he went on he saw the fur became rougher. He saw stills where the mouse was getting shocked and given more injections. The physical torment got worse from page to page until he finally got to the last page. It was Jerry tied down with droplets of acid dropped all over his arm. The expression on Jerry's face was clearly one of shrieking pain. You didn't have to be an animal lover to be disturbed by these photos. Any human with a sense of morality would cringe at them. But Carl was horrified to think his friend was involved in something like this. He didn't outright judge him, but he definitely needed an explanation. Over the break he felt his old friend had changed in ways that wasn't good for him. He prayed this wasn't one of those.

Jimmy finally got the last tiny screw out with his tweezers and pulled the camera off the wall. "Phew, finally." Jimmy said in a self-congratulatory manner."

Carl turned around to see that Jimmy was done. He closed the notebook and quickly crammed it into the hypercube along with the rest.

Jimmy smiled as he put the camera in his backpack. "I wish I had the shrink ray to make that easier. But I hey, I did it with just these tweezers. I don't think I've gone this low-tech in a while."

Jimmy jumped off the chair casually, forgetting that he should've watched his step. As he landed with a thud, a bunch of debris bits started falling. Jimmy froze in place realizing what he had just done. Parts of the ground started shaking.

"Oh shit." Jimmy said to himself.

Carl was too focused on his breathing to even think about being mad at Jimmy.

Suddenly a large chunk of debris fell through the roof and created a new hole as it went through the floor. The ground began shaking more aggressively.

"We have to get of here now." Jimmy panicked.

Carl noded. Jimmy took a couple cautious steps forward. "Just mind your step when you-"

CRASH! A large chunk of debris behind Jimmy went from the ceiling through the floor. The shaking became even more aggressive. Jimmy bolted towards the exit. He grabbed Carl and pushed him forward in the right direction.

"I thought you said we had to mind our steps-"

"FUCK THE STEPS!" Jimmy interrupted. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

The two rushed out of the room. Jimmy could hear the lab collapse behind him. He didn't look back. He just kept his arm around Carl and kept running. He saw the stairs in front of them. They were in the clear.

"Come on, Carl. We're almost there."

Jimmy's next step was his last. The boy genius fell straight through the floor. Carl heard a chunk of debris land with a thump followed by a loud yell of pain followed by dry coughing.

Carl looked down through the hole. He mostly saw dust but he could see Jimmy was laying on the ground, fidgeting to get back up. "JIM! JIMMY!" Carl yelled out for his friend.

"GO! I'M FINE! GO DOWN THE STAIRS!"

He couldn't see too well due to the dust, but he could see Jimmy crawling his way out.

"I'LL RUN DOWN THE STAIRS! SEE YOU ON THE NEXT FLOOR!"

Carl ran towards the stairs when suddenly he heard a loud metal crash. He could see small chunks of debris falling down the stairwell. Chunks kept falling down as they became bigger and bigger to the point that dust rose up from the ground and clouded the stairwell. It began to pour it's way down the hallway, obscuring Carl's vision through the suit. He could see and feel the ground shaking aggressively. The last thing Carl saw was tiles collapsing off the floor. Now the dust fully covered the room. The shaking became so aggressive that Carl couldn't stand up any longer. He fell on his fours crawling wherever he could on the ground. He was so tense that his tight grip could not let go of the hypercube. Carl felt himself reaching a wall. With nowhere else to go he leaned up against it as it was the only thing that felt safe and comforting. He couldn't see a thing. He could only hear the awful sounds of debris, metal, and glass falling everywhere as he felt the building shake uncontrollably. Through an even louder crash of debris, Carl could hear Jimmy let out another shriek of pain. "Jimmy" he yelled out for his friend. Getting a reply from Jimmy was the only comforting thought going through his mind. "JIMMY!" He yelled out even louder. He didn't hear a response. He immediately assumed the worst had happened. The crashing sounds got louder. The bits of debris dropping on his suit got heavier. He felt it was over. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something that would bring him peace. He thought back on everything, starting with his childhood and all the way to his plans after college. It all came to him in a flash. "Elke, I'm sorry."

Carl sat still and calm expecting it to end any second. He could hear the building collapsing as the sound of crashing debris, metal, and glass became louder and louder, preparing for one final crescendo. He felt the floor cracking beneath the very spot he sat in. He closed his eyes tight. His grip tightened on the hypercube. It was all he had.

One massive chunk of debris was all it took to crack the floor where Carl sat. He felt himself fall down to the next floor. He only fell one story below. Carl landed awkwardly, butt and feet landing on the floor but his upper torso felt nothing but air. The weight shifted more on his torso, alarming Carl as he opened his eyes. He saw he was on the edge hanging outside. One hand let go of the hypercube to grab onto a beam. He wrapped his other arm around it still holding onto the hypercube. He didn't have much hope and felt like the same predicament as before was starting again. He kept looking into the building in order to avoid his fear of heights by looking down. Somehow it seemed worse even to Carl under these circumstances. The floor that Carl's legs were resting on fell out into the air. Carl was now holding onto the beam for dear life. As he struggled he saw a figure slightly obscured by the dust. A beam of red light was visibly shooting out. The figure was clearly manipulating the light in some way. He was still very much afraid, but the sight of the figure made him feel a little hopeful.

Time was running out. The shaking kept getting more and more aggressive. He thought the worst had happened but it seemed like this was never going to end. Carl grabbed onto the beam for dear life as the bits of debris began to give him a beating worse than any bully in school could've ever given.

"JIMMY!"


	21. Chapter 21-What Do I Do part 1

"Come on, Carl. We're almost there."

Jimmy's next step was his last. The boy genius fell straight through the floor. He landed face forward on the ground. It didn't really hurt. What did hurt was the office-box sized rock of debris that landed on his leg.

"AHHHH!" Jimmy yelled in pain. His leg was stuck to the ground. When he tried to get up it was extremely uncomfortable in a way that turned his torso in an awkward position, causing him to cough uncontrollably. He got back on the ground, face down, still coughing. He could barely see the ground now that it was mostly covered in dust, but he knew it was there. He could feel it vibrating.

Jimmy got up slightly, pushing his arms on the ground to get in a push-up stance as high as he could. He got his free foot positioned in the air ready to make a move. Keeping his hands firm against the ground, Jimmy grunted as he kicked the debris off his leg several times. It was after five kicks that Jimmy was able to free himself.

"JIM!" He heard Carl shouting as he crawled towards the stairs coughing. "JIMMY!" Carl yelled out again.

Jimmy coughed one more time. He stopped crawling so he could answer. "GO! I'M FINE! GO DOWN THE STAIRS!"

"I'LL RUN DOWN THE STAIRS!" Carl shouted back down. "I'LL SEE YOU ON THE NEXT FLOOR!" Jimmy could hear Carl running away.

Jimmy tried to get back up. He no doubt injured his foot as he was limping, but there was no time to focus on that right now. He had to get out. It really hurt a lot but he was at least able to stand on it.

Suddenly Jimmy heard a loud sound of crashing metal coming from the stairs. The dust made it difficult to see, but it was clear that debris was falling down the stairwell. The stairs were no longer an option. There was a vibrating sensation Jimmy could feel coming from the floor. He quickly looked around at what he could; his vision was obscured by dust. He was familiar with the layout of the fourth floor, not the third. But chances were that the office layout of the building's office floors were similar. He knew Carvey's office was directly above him to his right. That meant that an office door had to be close to him. Jimmy felt around against the wall for a door. He felt the ground shaking him more aggressively as he struggled to stand still. He felt around the walls till his hand finally landed on a door knob. Without thinking he opened it right away. He went through the door to find it was an office (or so he assumed since everything was burned to ash). Virtually less dust covered the room, but there was some pouring in from where he had just entered. He shut the door behind him. He didn't know why since it made no difference, but it was a habit. The shaking got more violent as sounds of crashing metal, debris, and glass becoming louder and louder. Jimmy couldn't see his watch since he had the radiation suit on but he knew the layout of the buttons. Not being able to see what he was doing, he had to trust that this was going to work. He push a button and held the phone as close to his mouth as he could.

"GODDARD! START THE HOVER CAR! WE NEED TO GET OUT RIGHT NOW! WE'RE STUCK IN A-"

A beam fell through the ceiling and landed straight on Jimmy. He let out a loud shriek of pain.

"Jimmy." He thought he heard Carl yell out. He couldn't tell. It sounded muffled. "JIMMY!" It was Carl. Jimmy tried to get up but this beam had him locked down tight. He was stuck in this position. The building would go down with him in it…

NO! He wasn't going to give up this easy. He had his wristwatch on which had a laser that could cut through the beam. Of course that meant he would have to rip off his protective gear and risk being exposed to radiation. But he didn't have time to worry about that. If he did nothing he would die. Jimmy ripped off his glove and started cutting the beam with the laser. Behind him he heard a massive chunk of debris fall. Time was running out. He had to cut through the beam faster.

One line was successfully cut. Jimmy tried to push it off. It made it lighter but he had to cut through again. Behind him he could hear some grunting and struggling. Bits of debris started to fall on his more aggressively. It felt worse than being poked by 50 sharp objects at the same time. Even 20 punches from Butch couldn't compare to this. Jimmy shouted in pain, taking the beating the debris gave him as he kept cutting through.

"JIMMY!"

"CARL! HOLD ON ONE SEC!" Jimmy shouted back as he almost finished cutting through the beam.

"I'M SLIPPING!" Carl screamed out as he kept getting pounded with debris.

Jimmy was almost through. "HOLD ON!" He yelled out in agony. Jimmy grunted as he continued to get stoned.

The final sound of clashing metal was the loudest. The building was coming down and Jimmy knew the top floors were on their way to meet them.

Finally as he got to the last two inches the beam cut itself in half. Jimmy erupted as quickly as he could. His leg hurt way more now than before. He struggled to turn around and stand on it, but he had no choice. Jimmy began limping his way to Carl who was hanging out on the beam at the edge of the window.

"I'M COMING CARL!"

Suddenly the beam broke in half, causing it to detach from the building with Carl hanging onto it. He fell from Jimmy's sight.

"CARL!"

Jimmy charged as hard as he could to the edge. He shouted in pain as he landed on his bad foot and used it for support. With just one step away from the edge, Jimmy planted his good foot on the ground and took a leap out of the building.

He was now in the air. He could see the authorities had all backed away from the building as far back as they could. All the cars, vans, and tents that were just outside the building were now smashed in debris.

Carl let go of the beam and was now falling on his own. He had his arms wide open as though he were prepared to die. Jimmy went straight towards him. His speed was fast enough that he was able to reach Carl in a matter of seconds. As he was within arms reach of Cark, Jimmy quickly opened a flap on one of the straps on his backpack and pressed a red button. He quickly wrapped his arms tight around Carl. They were just one floor away from hitting the ground.

Two rocket boosters pop out from the side of Jimmy's backpack and activate. He took control and navigated just a split second before they were about to hit the ground. Jimmy flew through the mob of workers wearing radiation suits and got the jetpack to pull them up to the sky away from the site.

Both out of breathe, Jimmy and Carl looked over to the building as it came down to the ground with a lot of smoke rising up with it. None of the damage Jimmy had done to Retroville could even compare to this.

"Okay." Jimmy finally said something. "That one's my fault." He admitted.

* * *

"VOX, take us to quarantine. I've been exposed to radiation."

The screen in front confirmed Jimmy's command. _DECONTAMINATION SCHEDULED. COME BACK SAFELY_.

Carl started taking off his radiation suit but Jimmy stopped him. "Wait till we get back." He took a disinfectant spray from his glove box compartment that had his logo on it and sprayed it all over his exposed hand.

Carl was still taking deep breathes to keep himself calm. "What was that about!?" He yelled out at Jimmy while trying to keep it cool..

Jimmy kept focusing on his hand. "You said you wanted an adventure well you-"

"NO! Don't give me that! That wasn't an adventure; That was beyond crazy! We just snuck past the government-"

Jimmy tried to lighten the mood. "Kind of pathetic how easy that was, don't you think?"

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT! I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE!" Carl yelled back at him. He then took a deep breathe to prepare for a serious question. Jimmy knew Carl was serious. He figured he ought to listen to him at the very least. "Jimmy, I'm asking because I care: Are you in trouble?"

Jimmy laughed a bit. He took out a bandage and wrapped it around his injured leg. "Is that what you're worried about?"

"After after you drag us into that I think the most logical thing I can be is worried. You of all people should be able to appreciate that. You've been very secretive about what's going on."

"Look, no one's after me. I didn't do anything wrong."

"I saw pictures, Jimmy." He looked at Carl like a guilty man. "One of the notebooks had pictures of you torturing-"

Jimmy interrupted. "Carl, I didn't-"

Carl interrupted. "Where's the science in doing that, Jim? What reason could there possibly be for you to get your camera out before they found it? What have you done?-"

"Carl. Listen to me." He kept his hand up to emphasize his innocence." I only made injections. They weren't painful, okay. I wasn't the one that took it too far. I was against this from the beginning."

"Then what's going on?" Carl asked.

* * *

While in quarantine, Jimmy explained the basics to Carl. He told him about Jerry, about Carvey's plan, about what happened when Jimmy quit and the suit Jerry was building for himself. It was all way out there, even for them after all the stuff they'd gone through. But it was a serious matter. After all Carvey died because of this project. The whole thing was messed up on many levels.

After Jimmy's leg was healed from the bandage he let Carl go up to the cage. Jimmy had moved it to its own dark Corner. The glass was heavily tinted.

"VOX, untint the windows please."

The operating system confirmed the order. The glass revealed the interior of the cage. There was the barn, a large area for Jerry to roam around.

Carl continued to approach the cage. Jerry had his back facing Carl. Even though Jimmy had told him he wouldn't look like a normal mouse it was still difficult to get the right idea. The fur was all ruffled up with some burns in places that matched what Carl had seen in the photo. As Carl got closer he noted how strange the mouse's posture was. It looked like he was whittling something. With every step he took it wasn't entirely clear. The mouse bent down and starting gnawing at the object in front of him. He had a chunk of wood taken from the barn. It looked like he was building a table. Farther in front of him Carl could see a row of wooden furniture lined up against the barn. There was a bed, a couple chairs and benches. Even a few custom designed boxes. It was undoubtedly an impressive accomplishment, but Carl kept his focus on the mouse. He leans in closer to see if he can get a better look. Unbeknownst to Carl he casts a bigger shadow the closer he got. Jerry noticed. He realized the glass in front of him is untinted. Jerry turned around, exposing himself to Carl for the first time. The sight was a shock to Carl. It wasn't just the burns he knew the animal had from being tortured. The way Jerry carried himself more like a human being was jarring. What looked like a wristwatch was a strange item for a mouse to be wearing on its paw, so casually too. What really stood out was the big head. It was obvious that Jerry was a mouse, but if he wasn't told beforehand Jerry would've been mistaken for a monster. The giant head with veins popping out of his skull was a truly grotesque look. There really was no other sight like it.

Jerry didn't see Jimmy in his peripheral range. He turned around and got up on his two feet to get a closer look at Carl. Right away he began typing on his wristwatch. Above the cage there was a little monitor. It was so dark in the corner that Carl hadn't noticed it until now. Words appeared on the screen. "Help me!" He immediately looked down at Jerry. It was still a shocking, grotesque sight. Yet there was undeniable innocence Jerry's composure. He began to type again. "Please!"

"VOX, tint the windows and soundproof the cage please?" Jimmy ordered.

The command was confirmed. The windows were being tinted. Jerry saw this. He immediately ran towards the glass to get up closer to Carl. He threw his paws up on the glass just before it was completely tinted. The desperation in the mouse's attempt to escape made a deep impression on Carl.

Jimmy watched the whole thing from the distance. He could only assume what Carl was going to say after all that. It was hard to deny that Jerry had a quality that made you want to help him. Maybe it was just that humans can't help but find animals to be so damn cute. Jimmy wanted to believe that if he let Jerry go he would be better off and nothing bad would happen. But the reality was that his old boss died and an entire office building collapsed nearly killing Jimmy and his friend while inside it. On top of that Jerry made a weaponized suit.

Carl stood in front of the glass for a while before he turned around and walked back toward Jimmy. His expression told Jimmy that he would have a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

"I promise you it's a trick. He wanted you to let him out."

"You seriously think I'm that stupid? I may have been once Jim, but now-"

"I promise you that's what he's doing."

"Yeah, I think I got that from the 'Help me!'" Carl mocked Jimmy sarcastically. "But the added touch of 'Please!' made it perfectly clear."

Jimmy realized he wasn't giving enough details. All he had told Carl was what the experiment was. "Okay… the entire reason we were at that building was for that camera."

"Again, I know that."

"You do. But I have to see the footage. I need proof that he did it."

"You don't have any?"

Jimmy got defensive as he pointed at the suit which was fully open like a Swiss army knife. "He built a mech suit, shrunk some of my old inventions and weaponized it. You saw that notebook. You know what they did to him. That mouse is intelligent. Hell, he's probably at the level of a genius if he can build that." Jimmy said pointing at the suit. He calmed down a bit noting that Carl's subtle facial expression change proved he was at least getting through to him. But Jimmy also was tense and began to show that he was concerned. "But there's no way anyone is safe with him using that out there. Tell me I'm wrong, Carl. If he killed Carvey then who knows how much rage is filled in that tiny mouse's head."

Carl looked down unsure of what to say. He understood that for Jimmy there was no easy choice to make. Locking up Jerry was the only logical thing to do at this point. But as an animal lover he couldn't accept the logical answer. He wanted to believe that Jerry was innocent. All the pain and torment that mouse was put through was enough to send any conscious being over the edge. He just really hoped this wasn't the case for if it was then it wouldn't end well. Carl looked back up at Jimmy. "Are you going to kill him?"

Jimmy looked away from Carl to think about that. Killing Jerry was the only true solution if he was guilty of Carvey's murder. But the idea really bothered him. Jimmy didn't have to be an animal lover like Carl to be against the idea of killing him. For Jimmy it was out of his love for science. Sure, as a scientist he was not against testing on humans or animals. But he also had a great appreciation for biological life. Even now he would take a spider outside instead of step on it. Ending a life just wasn't something Jimmy was capable of unless it was a direct threat to him. "I might have to, Carl." Carl looked back at Jimmy unsure of what to say. The thought of killing Jerry seemed akin to killing a person. Even in the brief interaction Carl had there was no doubt he could tell a conscious soul occupied that body.

Jimmy knew what he was saying bothered Carl. It equally bummed him out as well. But Jimmy still had work to do. He turned around and walked over to his bench.

"What're you doing?" Carl asked.

Jimmy opened up his microwave, set on its de-radiation setting, and took out the hypercube along with the camera's memory card. "I don't like the idea any more than you do. But before I do anything I have to be sure."

* * *

Jimmy looked through the footage, fast forwarding through when he had gotten fired. Nothing seemed to move or was out of place. In fact there was little to no activity. VOX was set to detect any human movement that appeared while scanning the footage. The footage kept going through until finally a black screen had appeared. Jimmy stopped the scan. VOX only bookmarked two sections where there was human movement in the frame. It wasn't surprising since Carvey was practically never at the office. Allen was likely away with family on the holidays.

Jimmy rewound the footage back to where the black screen had occurred. It was timed on Christmas day, roughly 3 hours before the fire had occurred. Jimmy let the footage play out. There really wasn't anything of value in the frame. Jimmy remembered he had only positioned the camera towards to counter he would work at. He hit himself in the head thinking he should've gotten a wide lens to cover the whole room. But he quickly stopped his self pitying remembering the entire reason he installed the camera was to protect himself, not to spy on workers. He kept watching until the screen went black. It was unmistakably intentionally sabotaged. Some spray hit the lens. Jimmy sat back and sighed. It wasn't much proof to go on at all.

Carl had been reading the notebooks to learn more. "Did you find anything?" Jimmy shouted from across the room.

Carl felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and began texting. "Just your notes. It's only your handwriting in here." Carl shouted back as he continued texting.

"Figures." He said to himself. Jimmy turned back to the monitor slouching in his chair defeated. He looks at the two bookmarked sections and watches them. The first was of Carvey entering with a cup of coffee, looking around the room foolishly. He searched inside cabinets and under desks. Jimmy figured it was just the dumb man looking for his phone. It had happened before. He watched until Carvey left the room frustrated. It then skipped ahead. This clip was much shorter. All it showed was Carvey entering the room with a spray in his hand. He walked off at the frame and stayed at the corner for a good 30 seconds until he walked out the room, this time without the spray. That was the end of the footage.

Jimmy remembered that Carvey was planning to experiment on ants. He had brought them into the room and left them in a terrarium at that very corner. Jimmy looked to see the footage was dated for Christmas day, one hour before the camera was painted black.

"That's impossible." Jimmy said to himself. Indeed it was. If Carvey had succeeded in altering the minds of those ants then it could be possible. But there was no way it could work within a matter of hours. Even Jerry took 2 weeks before the most basic signs of human intelligence appeared at the level of a toddler.

Jimmy lowered his head on his keyboard. Considering the alternative of ants, regardless of how impossible it seemed, made Jerry appear more innocent. In fact any other possibility was plausible when Carvey's stupidity is taken into account. But there was nothing to work with here. He had no leads but Jerry.

"Did you find anything?" Carl asked from behind Jimmy.

Jimmy lifted his head up to see that Carl was standing behind him. He sighed before saying "No. The lens was painted over."

Carl's phone had vibrated again. He took it out at began texting. Jimmy looked down to the floor not knowing what to do.

"Sorry." Carl said as he put his phone away.

"Who are you texting anyway?" Jimmy asked.

"Cindy just asked me to hang out at the bar."

Suddenly Jimmy's phone began to vibrate. He looked at it sitting on his desk. On the home lock-screen there was a text from Cindy. All it said was "Hey!"

Jimmy turned to Carl. "I could actually use a drink."


	22. Chapter 22-What Do I Do part 2

"Wait! That was you?" Cindy said out loud in public.

Jimmy shushed her. "Would you keep your voice down!" He exclaimed quietly. "I don't know what agency is in town but I'd rather not get arrested tonight if you don't mind." He stressed.

"You're right. Sorry." Cindy took a drink from her glass. Jimmy looked around the bar paranoid that someone may have heard.

Jimmy, Carl, and Cindy sat at the same table they've become accustomed to having at JT's bar. The boys told her the whole story. How Jimmy had a potentially homicidal genius mouse locked up. How they broke into the office building in the midst of the worst destruction Retroville had ever seen. There were so many things happening that it was becoming difficult for Jimmy to keep track of everything.

"At least you guys are okay." Cindy said with relief. She noticed Carl didn't share that look of relief. "You're didn't get hurt at all did you?" She asked.

"Welllll…" Carl started uncomfortably. "Jimmy got stuck-"

Jimmy interrupted. "My leg got crushed but I used my Neutron automatic healer." Cindy cringed thinking of how bad that must've hurt. "It's fine." Jimmy reassured her.

"Jeezz... I'm curious, why don't you sell that to the hospital?"

"Because it wasn't-" Jimmy cut himself off and quickly shaked his head as he realized the red herring Cindy dragged in. "...approved by health care agencies. Anyway can we change the subject?"

Cindy smirked a tiny bit before getting back to the serious issue at hand. "You okay?" Cindy asked Carl.

Carl had been quiet. He didn't have a drink in front of him (not that he could have one anyway). He was still shaken up from what happened in the building. "I'm fine." Carl said morose.

Cindy didn't want to keep bothering him about it. When Carl was feeling down there was little to do. She then looked to Jimmy who had his elbows crossed on the table.

"I really screwed up this time." Jimmy beat himself down.

"It's not your fault." Cindy extended her arm in an attempt at comforting him.

Jimmy sat up straight before Cindy even got the chance. "Are you kidding? I just caused a building to fall over by jumping onto the floor. I should've been careful. Instead I screwed up like always and brought the worst radioactive explosion of the century to Retroville." Jimmy kept his voice as quiet as he could so as to not attract attention.

Cindy had reached for a napkin to conceal her failed attempt at comforting Jimmy. "That radioactive explosion happened before you had even gotten there." Cindy pointed out.

"Seriously Jim. It's not your fault. It was in bad shape before we got there. That place was coming down no matter what." Carl rationalized.

"It doesn't matter. If I had never helped Carvey with his experiment this never would've happened."

"But he was going to do it anyway with or without you." Cindy pointed out.

"That idiot was years behind on getting the formula right to inject the cells and decades farther behind on creating the spray."

Cindy and Carl were both perplexed. Carl began to ask "Are you saying that-"

Jimmy turned to face Carl. "I helped him speed up the process." He admitted. "Honestly I was just bored of watching him fail over and over that I stopped caring about how harmful the experiment was. I wasn't thinking and I'm sorry."

Jimmy kept looking at Carl. It was his forgiveness that he wanted more so than Cindy. Carl just kept looking down at the table. "What was the spray for?" He asked.

"What about it?" Cindy asked Carl. Jimmy knew exactly where this was going.

"In your notes I read about injections you gave to Jerry but I didn't see anything about a spray."

Jimmy looked down at the table. A good 10 seconds of silence passed before he began to speak. "Carvey gave up on Jerry and was going to start experimenting on ants. The only way he could do that was to create a spray for them to breathe in the formula. I honestly didn't think he'd use it. I was just bored and wanted to see if I could do it for future reference on another project."

Cindy and Carl processed what Jimmy told them. The idea was ridiculous, yet it began to make sense to Carl. "You said the camera lens was painted over?" He asked.

"Yeah. But there's no way they could've done it. Carvey sprayed them a couple hours before the explosion happened. Jerry took weeks to show the most basic changes. There's no way it could've happened that fast."

"So that only leaves Jerry." Cindy chimed in. "And you're problem is you don't know if he's trying to manipulate you?" Cindy asked Jimmy.

Jimmy keeped his elbows planted on the table as he put his hands over his head. "I don't know what to do."

Cindy let a moment of silence pass before she threw in her suggestion. "Drop it."

Carl's eyes left the table and moved up to Cindy. Jimmy took his hands off his head and looked back at her.

"Just drop it." Cindy repeated. "You don't have anything but one mouse. That's your best suspect. And as for the ants, you said it yourself. It's impossible they could've received enhanced intelligence within hours."

"It's not likely." Jimmy added. "We don't know that for sure."

Cindy interrupted. "The point is I think you're worrying too much here. Let me ask you something Jimmy? What's more plausible: That the ants did in fact react to the formula faster than anticipated or that your former boss who doesn't know what he's doing was playing with something he shouldn't have and that's what set off the explosion?"

"She's got a point." Carl chimed in.

"That still doesn't explain the lens going black." Jimmy quickly rebutled. Cindy sank back in her chair. "If it is the ants then I can't do anything until they make a move assuming something happens. And you know what, maybe they didn't react fast to the formula. I hope that's true. I'm willing to let that go right now because I really don't have a choice. Also the idea of ants being able to set off a radioactive explosion is ridiculous."

"True." Cindy added.

"But that doesn't take Jerry out of the picture." Jimmy said looking at Carl.

Carl looked back up to Jimmy. He knew what the genius was thinking. There really weren't any safe options left. If it was Carvey's stupidity that got him killed that was one thing. But if it was murder...

Cindy caught on to the looks being exchanged between Jimmy and Carl. "He does have a clear motive." She pointed out. It didn't make it any easier for the two of them.

"I don't want to do it Carl." Jimmy tried to comfort his best friend.

"But you will if you have to, right?" Carl asked. "I'm not happy about it but I don't blame-"

Jimmy interrupted. "I don't even know if I can do it, Carl." Carl was surprised by Jimmy's response. The once boy genius sighed as he sat back and chuckled at the ridiculousness of it all. "I don't even know where to start." Jimmy took a drink as Carl and Cindy leaned in to listen closely. Jimmy set his drink down and thought about what to say. "I don't want to call it a connection or something cheesy like that, but that's kind of what it was. Or maybe he was being manipulative the whole time and was trying to get me to let him out. He succeeded since I let him escape easily." Carl wasn't surprised. He read Jimmy's notes. He knew he had only good regards on the subject of Jerry. It was just interesting to hear it coming from Jimmy as a person, not a scientist. "Just the little things he did made me feel better at work. Like a I wasn't a tool. He actually cooperated with me."

Jimmy smiled thinking back on it. Those small moments of kindness, however insignificant they may have been really made Jimmy feel a little better throughout his day. It was crazy to think that they could connect but they weren't that different. In their own way they were both prisoners in Carvey's lab. Jimmy could've left any time he wanted but his walls of self-pity and lack of confidence kept him locked up in there for years. It wasn't until that fateful day that both of them managed to escape. Jimmy wasn't one for metaphors but the thought did amuse him.

"I want to believe he's got nothing to do with it." Jimmy said sincerely. "I want to believe that he wasn't conning me the whole time. But that suit he built can do a lot of damage. And if he's responsible for the largest destruction this town has ever seen then I cannot just let him go."

Silence fell at the table. Jimmy and Cindy picked up their drinks while Carl kept his head down. As the three were silent Carl was thinking. "What if I talked to him?"

Jimmy put his drink down surprised by the proposal. "What good would that do?"

"Just let me talk to him." Carl suggested. "He doesn't know me. He claims not to know what happened. I'm good with animals. At the very least let me try to see if I can find out whether or not we can trust him."

Jimmy put his arms on the table and leaned forward. "If he asks you to let him out are you going to?"

"Are you kidding? After everything that's happened? I'm not that gullible anymore, Jim. If he tries to manipulate me then you can kill him. I don't like the idea any more than you do." Carl took a deep breathe. "But if that little mouse wants to cause so much destruction then I don't even want to think about how much worse it can get."

Jimmy kept seriously looking at Carl. As good hearted as Carl was he wasn't necessarily the most reliable person when it came to going on adventures when they were younger. But then again he knew that they had all grown up so much since those old days. Jimmy turned to Cindy. She nodded back in approval at the idea. Jimmy turned his head back to his drink on the table.

"Okay Carl. It's your move."

* * *

Jimmy left Carl alone to talk to Jerry. He didn't believe that the questioning would yield many results but it didn't hurt as long as Carl wasn't compelled to set him free. There was a time when Carl was gullible enough to do so. But now Jimmy believed Carl would be fine. He was no doubt smart enough by now to not let himself be manipulated so easily.

While Carl was interrogating the mouse Jimmy and Cindy waited in the hangar. Jimmy stood back as Cindy marveled at the rows of old inventions she had seen years ago. A wave of nostalgia hit her, each invention recalling back to a memory either good or bad. Willie Loman. The GillGab 9000. The Neutronic Monster-Maker. Cindy took an extra step away from that one.

"You kept that?" Cindy asked positively disgusted.

"Heh." Jimmy shrugged a little uncomfortably. "I'm pretty bad at destroying stuff."

"Seriously, you have to throw that away. Killer mice might be bad enough, but seriously Neutron? If anyone used this things would be far more chaotic."

"Okay, you're right." Jimmy gestured his hands in defeat. "I'll get rid of it."

"It's creepy to think I was once a vampire." Cindy said to herself as she thought back on that Halloween. She then turned to Jimmy. "But you? Ewe, that octopus? That was so gross."

"Heh heh." Jimmy laughed awkwardly. "It actually was kind of fun."

"For you maybe." Cindy went back to looking at the old inventions. She walks past Shoebot, the smart pants, burping soda, the sick patch. The row was endless. Most of these things were hazardous, but some were pretty cool. The book gum was a fairly cool idea she thought. It was a shame that never really went anywhere.

Jimmy stayed at the center of the room as he just watched Cindy look around. She seemed to be enjoying herself, but for Jimmy this room reminded him of his failures.

Cindy came upon the hypno-beam. It was broken in places and likely didn't work, but she enjoyed the memories the flooded back into her mind.

She picked it up and showed Jimmy. "Remember when you used this on your parents?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah, and I had birthdays for that whole week." Jimmy laughed at the memory.

"Didn't you owe that clown a lot of money?"

Jimmy laughed. "Yeah, I got out of it though."

"How?"

"Summer school." Jimmy said shaking off the bad memory. "It wasn't fun."

"Well it was a pretty good week." Cindy's smile faded. "Even though everybody got sick from it."

"Yeah." Jimmy quietly replied with a light smile.

Cindy continued looking around. Jimmy followed behind her. For some reason the presence of Cindy made him feel more nervous than he should have. But then he thought to himself it was likely because he felt like he was being judged by all his old inventions. Most of them were terrible failures after all. After the hypno-beam was the cheese-ray. It always was a curious invention to Cindy. She picked it up and looked at it funny. "I never understood the why you made this one."

"There wasn't any real reason." Jimmy admitted as they continued walking down. "I guess I just was bored and thought it would be cool. I mean I was a kid after all."

Cindy nodded. "I guess that makes sense." Cindy kept looking at the invention as they continued walking down, Jimmy staying behind her.

A seemingly inanimate plant was coming up next. The plant suddenly moved when it sniffed a familiar smell that woke it up. It could sense the smell approaching closer. Purely on instinct, the plant stood up tall preparing to make its move.

Jimmy had completely forgotten that he had the girl-eating plant locked down here for all these years. It looked like it must've been really hungry. After all these years it was waking up and he knew what it was going for. As Cindy walked right past the plant Jimmy shouted "CINDY! GET DOWN!"

Immediately Jimmy ran towards her preparing to push her out of the way. Cindy turned around to see the plant going straight for her head to take a bite. Just inches away from eating her, Cindy pointed the only weapon she had on her hands and fired. A ray shot out at the girl-eating plant. Jimmy was sprinting too fast to stop himself now as he tackled Cindy to the ground causing her to drop the cheese-ray.

Cindy landed on her back. Jimmy was on top of her. Their eyes locked on the other. Jimmy was breathing a little heavy after all the excitement. Both of them experienced a little rush. They couldn't help but stare at one another. The first thought that went to his head was a memory from middle school. They had admitted to each other that their favorite physical feature was each other's eyes. Both were completely lost in the other when they starred at each other. For a second that familiar feeling returned, but before another move could be made Cindy opened her mouth. "Um… can I get up now."

Jimmy instantly was taken out of the trance her eyes put him under. He immediately realized what position he was in. Cindy smiled when she saw him put two and two together. It was kind of cute, she thought. "Ye- Yeah." Jimmy said feeling awkward as he felt embarrassed.

He rolled over to the side already sitting up. Cindy sat up next to him. They both looked up to see the girl-eating plant had turned into an inanimate statue of cheese. It still looked threatening but at the same time delicious.

Cindy looked upon the plant remembering what it was. She remembered the time it was left on her doorstep and tried to eat her. "What the hell is that thing anyway?" She asked.

"Um…" Jimmy struggled to find an answer. He didn't want to explain what it was. As far as he knew she had no idea what the purpose of the plant originally was. Now he was actually happy to see it kind of destroyed. Or rather turned into something more flavorful. He turned to Cindy struggling to come up with an explanation. "I… don't want to talk about it." Jimmy said with an awkward smirk.

Cindy looked at Jimmy's idiot face. She just shrugged it off. It really didn't surprise her. Neutron could be really stupid at times. "Okay?… You know a lot of this stuff is pretty useless and dangerous."

Jimmy sighed. He knew himself that a lot of his failed inventions were worthless. It still hurt to hear someone else other than him validate it. "Yeah, I know." He said beating himself down. Cindy caught on to how personally he took her words. She mentally hit herself in the brain for forming those words into that sentence. "I never was able to get anything right." Jimmy took the cheese-ray and slid it on the ground back to its original spot.

"You know, not everything you made was a total waste." Cindy said sincerely.

Jimmy dismissed her sympathy. "I know you're just being nice. Most of the stuff in here brought more harm than good when we were kids."

"Okay, I may have been one of the ones that gave you the most grief on your stupid inventions when we were kids, but you know that's not true."

"Sure." Jimmy responded sarcastically.

"I'm serious." still sitting, Cindy turned her body to face Jimmy. "Look at Goddard. You not only invented your own dog. You basically created artificial intelligence. You were so far ahead of everyone else. Even Siri doesn't have the same sophistication that Goddard has. It will take years for someone to match up." Cindy then pointed to the GillGab 9000. "And that thing over there when we went looking for treasure. Do you realize how amazing that was talking to a squid. Even right now you managed to give a mouse a way to communicate with us. I don't even know why you didn't have him communicate verbally with us."

"I don't even want to hear what he has to say."

"Okay, but that's not the point. What I'm saying is you could make it if you wanted to. That does have value. Also what about the hover car? You invented the 'FLYING CAR' Jimmy." Cindy made air quotes with her hands to highlight its importance. "It's the 'FLYING CAR.'" She did it again. Jimmy laughed at he gesture. "And what about that?" Cindy pointed to the corner of the wall where the original rocket was stored. The one he took to Yokus to rescue their parents. "That one was your fault, yeah. But if you didn't help us build rockets out of those rides we never would've rescued our parents. Seriously, can you imagine how screwed up we'd all be now if you hadn't built a vehicle out of every ride. And all those rockets could travel faster than what NASA has now. You've been to other worlds no human on the planet knows exists, Jimmy."

While she was celebrating his accomplishments she had gotten more and more excited as she talked. Her words clearly resonated with Jimmy who was smiling a little from the boost of his self esteem.

"You've invented some stupid stuff and we criticised you for it. But for every 100 failures you're bound to get one thing right. That's something inventors have to accept. You're not a bad one. All inventors have to deal with failure. Trial and error, you know?" Cindy gave Jimmy a light smile as she did a friendly pat on the back.

Jimmy nodded back lightly understanding. He still felt low but her words were comforting to hear. Jimmy moved his eyes down to the floor thinking as his finger unconsciously played around with his shoelace.

Cindy looked at him feeling bad for him. It was never a pretty sight watch Neutron beat himself up. Even when they were kids she couldn't stand it. Maybe that was the true moment on Yokus when she realized she didn't really hate Jimmy.

"You really should stop selling yourself short Jimmy." He chuckled a little as he kept twirling his shoe laces. "You're not a bad inventor at all. But honestly that wasn't what I thought you'd end up being anyway."

Jimmy stopped twirling his laces. Right away he was curious. It surprised him to hear that she had a thought as to what he should do with his future. His old ego might've tuned out any suggestions she would have but his now aimless soul was more than willing to listen. "What did you think I would be?" He asked.

The question caught her off guard. She realized she had let it slip. She had to think about it for a second. She did have an answer but she hadn't ever thought she would have to tell him. Of course she realized that after her little monologue she put herself in a corner where she would have to answer.

"Honestly." Cindy took a few seconds before continuing. She shrugged her shoulders a bit hoping the answer wouldn't offend him. "I always thought you were a better explorer." Jimmy was clearly surprised to hear this but Cindy couldn't tell if that was good or bad. She continued to explain herself. "I mean I know your first love is science and you love to hide in the lab and invent new things. But I always prefered going on adventures with you instead of being a test subject. And it's not just because being a guinea pig was risky with all the failures you've had. But when we went on adventures I honestly felt you were in your element. You always were prepared, you knew what to do, and when we were in trouble you'd always bring us home safely. It always felt like that was what you wanted to do most. Back when the Yolkians discovered that satellite you wanted so badly to find another world. You've invented so many things that could benefit the planet already that I think you've peaked as an inventor. Seriously, you made the FLYING CAR!" She exclaimed trying to end her point on a high note.

Jimmy appreciated her words but he didn't know how to feel about them. "How long have you felt that way?"

She took a few seconds before responding. "Pretty much when we started dating. You slowly stopped inventing as much as you used to. I don't blame you, you pretty much have a solution to almost everything. I always thought you'd be better exploring around the galaxy, expanding your knowledge and meeting different species we don't even know about. Be the first official ambassador of Earth or something like that."

Jimmy really thought about Cindy's words. They made sense. He didn't have to work for NASA to fly out into space. He could do that on his own without having to pass their stupid blood test. He couldn't deny that other than a few inventions he'd already created he had nothing to offer mankind. It would be years until everyone else had adapted to using Jimmy's successful inventions. But right now he couldn't just leave. As much as he needed to move away from home he didn't want to abandon his mom like that. And he didn't want to leave Sheen behind while he was in a coma. He didn't want to miss Carl's wedding. And for some reason he didn't want to be away from Cindy. He just enjoyed her company. When they were alone he would feel a little better just being around her.

Jimmy smiled a little at that last thought. His eyes were still on the ground. Cindy had been looking at him this whole time unclear as to what it was he was thinking. "I guess we should probably check back on Carl, huh." She started to get up.

Jimmy looked back up to her smiling a little. "Yeah, I guess so." Cindy nodded at Jimmy. She started walking out as Jimmy got up.

While Cindy kept walking, Jimmy just stood up looking to the corner at one of his inventions. Cindy stopped walking as she reached the hangar entrance. She saw Jimmy still standing at the spot she left him. "You coming?" She asked.

Jimmy's eyes moved to make eye contact with her. "Um… Go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a few minutes."

"Okay." Cindy replied. She left the hangar feeling awfully suspicious after sharing a very personal thought. It is weird to tell someone how you imagine them turning out. At least with Neutron it felt weird. She had meant every word that she said, but she wasn't sure if it had been for better or worse.

Once Jimmy was alone he looked back to the corner. Memories flooded back to his mind. He took the first steps forward to approach his invention which lied in the corner. It was too big for him now but he knew he could make a bigger one. It stood there clean and polished, looking as good as it did the day he first modified it to fly out in space. The rocket he originally took to Yokus. It was the first one that wasn't destroyed. It struck him how incredible of an achievement it was for an 11 year old boy to make this thing fly out in space, especially without the need of an interior design to contain oxygen. At the time he was so focused on saving everybody's parents that he never took the time to appreciate what he had done. He set a hand and caressed it on the panel. This rocket had done a lot more for him than he had ever taken the time to appreciate. It's crazy how little he thought about how his adventures had influenced his character. He always assumed he'd be more known for his inventions and focused solely on that. Cindy's idea was a nice one. He knew he could do it. But now just wasn't the time. He took his hand off the rocket and left the hangar.

* * *

"I'm telling you I don't think he did it." Carl explained.

"Because he's saying he didn't do it, right?" Jimmy said assertively.

"I'm not saying I know for sure, but he seriously doesn't understand what's going on."

"Let me break it down for you Carl: That mouse tried to increase it's IQ by putting on the brain-gain helmet. That's why he has a massive, ugly veiny head. The only reason he asked for my help was that he would die if I didn't come down. Also I found not only the suit but that he googled Carvey's office, with the address highlighted on the browser."

"I thought you said you didn't want to kill him." Carl noted.

"I DON'T! But I need more than just him saying he's confused and doesn't understand. He had the weapons to do it and he knew exactly where to go."

"If he was smart enough to do that do you really think he'd leave a trail of evidence on your computer."

Cindy chimed in. "He could've been careless and not expect you to come down here." Jimmy and Carl turned to Cindy. She had a point. "Honestly, you might have to do it." She struggled a little to say.

Jimmy turned away and only took a few steps forward as he scratched his head.

"So you're going to do it?" Carl asked.

"He has the motive, Carl." Cindy explained. "Seriously think about what he could do if we let him go."

"Jimmy?" Carl awaited for his response.

Jimmy stopped moving. He put his hands behind his head and stood up straight as he took a deep breathe. "I don't want to call it this soon. Something's just not right."

"I can talk to him again." Carl offered. "Find out why he looked up the address."

"No." Jimmy declined. "Not right now. Let him wait. I'll keep him locked up tight. It's not like he can escape easily." Jimmy pivoted his foot to turn around and face Carl and Cindy. They both gave him looks of approval as he nodded in turn. "I guess we should get some sleep. It's pretty late."

"Yeah." Carl and Cindy agreed, yawning at the same time.

"I'll walk you guys out."

* * *

Jimmy escorted the two as they all walked outside the clubhouse.

"So I'll see you in the morning? Hang out one last time before you go?" Jimmy asked Carl.

"Yeah." Carl said sounding down.

"Cool." Jimmy replied awkwardly in turn. "We'll try thinking of what to ask Jerry tomorrow. Hopefully get more out of him." Carl simply nodded. Jimmy turned to Cindy. "How about you? You busy after work?"

"I don't have any plans but text me anyway." Cindy replied.

"Yeah, cool. I will." Jimmy nodded awkwardly. "Well goodnight guys." Jimmy turned towards the backdoor of his house.

"Goodnight." Carl and Cindy said as they began walking home.


	23. Chapter 23-I'm Sorry I'm a Failure

The sound of his phone ringing brought him back to being half conscious. The first thought on his mind was to go back to sleep. It had been two days since he had gotten a decent night's sleep. Thinking about it he had been so busy that he forgot all about sleep. It was the first time in years that he had stayed up for longer than a day. His body never once felt tired. It just went to show that he had plenty of energy he just wasn't using. But for now he just wanted to sleep. It had been forever since he laid in his bed feeling that comfortable feeling of sinking into his mattress instead of that brain dead attitude he was used to having from not being motivated. The phone stopped ringing. His half conscious mind embraced the silence drifting back to sleep. His eyes slowly closed.

Then it rang again. His eyes opened once more. His mind came back to awareness, becoming fully conscious. Jimmy groaned, not wanting to get up. But if the phone was ringing for a second time it must've been pretty important. He reached for the nightstand and grabbed the phone.

Carl's name was on the screen. He remembered that it was his last day and that they had plans to hang out. He looked at the time on his phone. They hadn't settled on when to hang out, but after what they had been through the night before 8:47am seemed to be pushing it.

Jimmy slid the green "answer" button and held the phone up to his ear. "Hello." He said clearly sounding like he just woke up.

"You have to come over at Sheen's right now." Carl stressed urgently.

The words hit Jimmy as he immediately became more awake. He brought his body up with his free hand and sat up on the bed. "What's going on?"

* * *

In a matter of minutes the hovercar arrived at Sheen's apartment complex. As the car carefully descended he saw a bunch of possessions being thrown out into the street. The sight of purple from above was clear that it was largely filled with some UltraLord themed possessions. Two figures were standing off to the side observing. One of them was clearly Carl. Suddenly a figure came from the front door with a box of possessions and tossed it into the parking area. That was definitely Alicia, not that it could be anyone else anyway.

Jimmy landed the car safely on the other side. Right away he burst out of the car. Carl was running up to him with Nick following behind.

"What is she doing?" Jimmy shouted across to Carl. Another man came in Jimmy's sight at the front door. It was some big, unshaven looking "bro" type of guy wearing a wife-beater that he hadn't met before. "Who's that?" Jimmy shouted again as he pointed at the stranger.

Carl stopped running as he got a few steps closer to Jimmy. Nick slowed down behind him. "She got the landlord to end Sheen's lease early."

Jimmy took a second to process that. "What?" He rhetorically asked confused and furious. "They can't do that."

"They can. Sheen's behind two months rent." Carl admitted.

This was news to Jimmy. It's true Sheen had been struggling living paycheck to paycheck. But he didn't know it was that bad.

Jimmy saw Alicia come out with Sheen's custom UltraLord PS4 in hand. She put it over her hands ready to throw it into the street.

"HEY!" Jimmy walked past Carl towards Alicia. Instead of acknowledging his presence she tossed the game console out into the pavement. It hit the ground fairly hard but fortunately it didn't break open. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Jimmy yelled out at Alicia.

"Whadaya wunt?" Alicia shouted back in a ridiculous fake accent.

Her response completely perplexed Jimmy. He couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a Boston or New York accent. He couldn't even tell if she was just mocking him in a stupid way. But he stayed focused on the issue at hand. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"

"Yo frend cunnawt pai raint en dont liv hea no mow." Alicia responded in a nasty tone.

Jimmy got what she was saying but the accent really confused him. "Why are you talking like that?"

"Lyk wat?" Alicia responded pretending not to know what he was talking about.

The guy came out with a box of toiletries. "Hay baeb, didya wunt deese tu stai owa nut?"

Alicia looked at the box. "Nuh, baeb das my haer dryea. Puttit bak."

The guy looks down seeing she's right. "O… surry baeb." The guy looks up and makes eyes contact with Jimmy. "Hay fella." He nodded hello. Jimmy returned the nod still confused. The stranger went back inside with the box.

Jimmy looked at Alicia confused by her attitude while simultaneously completely unsurprised she would stoop to such a low. "What is going on here?" Jimmy asked as calmly as he could.

"I tuld ya, yo frend cunnawt-"

Jimmy impatiently interrupted. "ENGLISH, PLEASE! I know you speak it!"

Carl and Nick had been walking over casually. They finally caught up with Jimmy. Alicia looked behind her to make sure her friend wasn't nearby. She then tip toed around the mess of possessions she made on the pavement and yelled quietly to Jimmy.

"Sheen hasn't had enough money to pay rent on his end so we were behind for two months. Now that he's in the hospital he most definitely won't be able to pay it. So the landlord tore the contract."

"He can't do that." Jimmy retorted frustrated.

"Yes he can. He needed a good reason and I told him Tod and I could catch up on the rent. No landlord is gonna refuse money. As of now Sheen and his "Ultra" Crap are out of here."

"Hay baeb." Alicia's new friend called out for her.

"You can pick up this stuff and do whatever you want. But it's not staying here anymore and neither is he." She turned around and walked off in a strut that communicated "go screw yourself." That's just putting it kindly.

He didn't know which he felt more: anger at her for what she did or shock at the stupid low she sunk to with that accent. Either way there wasn't much he could do. It wasn't like fighting for Sheen's residency was even worth it. At this point he'd be doing a huge disservice to his friend if he let him wake up and go back to that. After all she tried to get the doctors to pull the plug on his life support.

Jimmy looked at all the stuff scattered across the ground. Sheen was quite the hoarder. He never really was smart with his money, but the insane amount of stuff he had was ridiculous. He could've easily sold some of his UltraLord memorabilia. Some of it may have even been so rare it's value could be around tens of thousands. Jimmy shook his head thinking of Sheen's poor financial habits.

Jimmy kept looking at the piles of Sheen's possessions scattered all over the parking lot. Nick was the first to speak. "I already called in a truck. I can hold onto all his stuff till he wakes up."

"No." Jimmy immediately responded as he walked away. Nick looked at Carl who shared his look of disappointment. Everyone knew Jimmy couldn't tolerate the presence of Nick but this was ridiculous. They watched Jimmy get something from the hovercar. He came back with the hypercube in his hand and started picking up what was on the pavement. "You can help out if you want." He pandered to Nick.

The guys spent the next couple hours picking up all of Sheen's belongings scattered through the parking lot and placing them into the hypercube. None of them said anything. Jimmy acknowledged Nick's presence but there was no need to go beyond that. Likewise Nick just kept to himself. After all the craziness of the past few days Jimmy was hoping today would be normal given everything that's happened. Although he had it admit this time it was a bit more of a relief. Sure, Sheen didn't have a home anymore but at least he would wake up in a better world without his abusive (ex)girlfriend.

It was past 11:30am when Nick put the last of Sheen's clothes into the hypercube. After that an awkward silence took place. Jimmy looked at Nick expecting him to say something but nothing was coming out. What was there to say after all? A 'thank you' maybe. It wasn't unearned after all. But he just didn't have a burning desire to say anything.

After a while Nick finally spoke. "So…" he broke the uncomfortable silence. "I need to get back to my folks and help my wife pack-"

"Yeah." Jimmy nodded quickly approving that Nick should go right away to do that. His tone didn't surprise Carl but he looked away annoyed at it anyway.

"Yeah" Nick agreed trying to be polite.

A bit of silence hung in the air as Nick waited for a response. Carl then broke it. "It was good seeing you." Carl extended his hand out for a handshake.

Nick grabbed his palm. "You too." He said as he shook Carl's hand. They broke it off and Nick looked at Jimmy. Right away he put his hands in his pockets.

Nick caught on to the gesture. "Well I'll see you both next time I'm in town."

Jimmy only nodded back in acknowledgement. It wasn't much, but for Nick it seemed enough as he started taking a few steps backwards.

"Have a good trip." Carl politely said as Nick walked away.

"You too, bud."

As Nick walked away, Carl turned to Jimmy. Jimmy looked back. Carl gave him a look that suggested "what's up with that?" as Jimmy looked down slightly suggesting "I don't want to talk about it."

Jimmy looked back at Sheen's old apartment door. This wasn't some sentimental goodbye for him, but things were going to be very different once Sheen woke up. Whether that was for better or worse would remain to be seen. But at least Alicia was out of the picture.

"You hungry at all?" Carl asked taking Jimmy's fixation off the door.

He turned to face Carl, hands still in his pockets. "Yeah actually. I haven't had breakfast yet."

"Me neither." Carl pointed out.

"You know what you want to eat?" Jimmy asked.

Carl thought about it for a second. "You know, I actually haven't had McSpanky's in a while." Jimmy scoffed a bit while laughing. Carl immediately remember why. "Don't tell me you can't go back there."

"No." Jimmy finished laughing. "I'm not banned but… I don't think I'd be welcomed there."

"Have you been there since they rebuilt it?" Carl asked. Jimmy just shook his head. "Well it's my last day, there isn't a McSpankey's in Iowa, and I want a burger. Come on, I'll pay for you." Carl began taking steps to the hovercar. Jimmy didn't move, shaking his head while laughing.

Carl's phone the started ringing. Jimmy watched him pick it up as he kept going toward the hovercar. "Hello."

Suddenly an alarm began to sound from Jimmy's pocket. His eyes immediately widened. This wasn't some typical text notification or low battery warning coming from his phone. This was the alarm installed in VOX which meant trouble. With quick haste Jimmy took out the phone. The screen flashed red with a security camera feed of Jerry's cage on the screen. The cage was open from the top. The little genius mouse had escaped.

There was no time to waste. Jimmy began power walking towards the hovercar. Carl had been standing a good 50 feet in front of him. "What do you mean?" He heard Carl say on the phone oblivious to the tone in his voice. He had to get back to his neighborhood and stop that mouse from leaving. To make matters worse he forgot to put away the mech suit.

Jimmy was about to walk past Carl who had his back facing him. As he walked by he didn't waste time. He made his presence clear with a quick nudge on Carl's shoulder. "Jerry's escaped. We have to get him before he has time to get anywhere." Jimmy continued power walking to his hovercar with purpose. He quickly thought of a plan. Fortunately he had most of his weapons in the hovercar. They would be equipped to fight that little rodent.

"Jimmy!" Carl called out with distress in his voice.

Jimmy caught on to Carl's worrisome tone. It didn't surprise him given what happened the night before. "Look Carl, the whole thing is my fault. You can sit this one out. I'll call you when I'm done."

He opened the door to his hovercar and got in the drivers seat. Carl ran up from behind him. "Jimmy wait!" He shouted as Jimmy closed the door.

Carl got to the window. Jimmy lowered it. "I have to go, Carl" he stressed urgently. "I can't waste time-"

"Sheen stopped breathing!"

* * *

All other cares had left his mind the moment Carl broke the news to him. On the way to the hospital he ordered VOX to calculate the radius of how far Jerry could get away. It was the best he could do for now.

On their way Carl briefed Jimmy on the details he was given. Sheen's breathing machine along with the heart monitor stopped. Both pieces of machinery had reached their expiration date causing them to shut down. Unfortunately the hospital didn't have the best budget for new equipment. For 5 minutes or so there was no oxygen getting to Sheen's lungs. It was fortunate that Cindy entered his room during her lunch break.

Jimmy and Carl ran down the hallway as fast as they could, nearly bumping into patients as they ran. Cindy and Judy stood outside the door to Sheen's room. Right away they looked down the hallway at the boys running as they nearly crashed into a woman in a wheelchair.

As they approached they slowed their speed down to power walking, Jimmy much faster than Carl. "Is he alive?" Jimmy asked his mother.

Judy shook her head unsure. "They're trying to resuscitate him." Jimmy stormed past her and went for the door. "Jimmy!" she shouted at him. Judy ran to the door in front of Jimmy, blocking his way.

"Get out of the way, mom!"

"Leave it alone, Jimmy." She urged him as she guarded the door. Jimmy desperately reached for the door handle around his mother. "Stop it!" She begged him as she grabbed onto his arm. Carl put an arm over Jimmy's chest and began to pull him back. Jimmy held on tight to the handle.

"JIMMY, STOP IT!" Judy shouted one last time.

His mother's yell took him out of his self-inflicted trance of anger. His wrists let go of the door causing Carl to yank Jimmy back with force landing on the ground. He was so tense earlier that now he was taking deep breathes to calm himself down. He looked up at Cindy who was clearly shocked by what happened. He then turned to see his mother, whose face was filled with fear just a few seconds before, now looking down at him with a sad yet comforting gaze. She bent down in front of him and extended her arms to help him up. He lifted his right arm as a sense of humility washed over him for his earlier actions. Judy brought her son back up and immediately wrapped her arms around him. Carl lifted himself off the ground and stepped close to Cindy to not intrude on the moment. Jimmy's deep breaths slowed down as his mother held onto him. "It's going to be okay." She calmly spoke into his ear.

At that moment Jimmy had to let go. He more than appreciated his mother's comfort, but the words "it's going to be okay" were hardly reflective of his present reality.

"What's going on?" He asked desperately.

Judy tried to reassure him. "They're doing all they can, sweetie."

Jimmy's anger steamed up again. "How can this happen?"

"Jimmy." Judy said softly.

"How can they let equipment be used like this? Why did no one check? Why didn't you check?!" He exclaimed.

"Jimmy, calm down." His mother spoke sternly. Jimmy let his breathing cool back down to normal. "You're right to be angry. We're not up to date on everything used in this hospital. It's stupid, it's dangerous, and it puts lives at risk and you should be angry about that." She eased back into being sympathetic and understanding. "But I know there's also a bunch of dedicated doctors here and right now four of them are doing everything they can to keep Sheen alive. And right now they need to stay focused on that, okay?"

"Yeah." Jimmy said taking a deep breathe.

Judy looked deep into the eyes of her frightened son. She moved to guide him towards the empty chair by the door. "Right now the best you can do is sit and hope for the best, okay?"

Jimmy held up his arm forcing Judy to let go. "I got it, mom." He dismissed her and took himself to the chair.

Judy looked back at him wanting to assure him everything would be alright. She watched as her son sat up straight staring anxiously at the ceiling.

The door to Sheen's room suddenly burst open as one of the resident doctors popped out. "Nurse!" The resident called for Judy. She immediately turned around. "We need you in here right now." The doctor rushed back inside as Judy followed without hesitation.

An hour had passed and Jimmy kept staring at that damn ceiling. All that had been on his mind was Sheen. At first it seemed like a good day. Alicia forcing Sheen out seemed like a good thing in the long run. But rather than holding onto his things it seemed more like they were clearing out all remnants of Sheen. He took the hypercube out of his pocket and looked at it. Everything of Sheen's was in there. One quick push of the button and all of Sheen's possessions would disintegrate within the cube. Sheen and everything of his would disappear from existence.

Carl and Cindy stood farther away giving Jimmy his own space as they talk to comfort each other.

Down the hallway a cart was being pushed with a breathing machine and heart monitor. Carl stared at it as the cart moved down. As it approached Jimmy it started to make a turn closer to the door. Sure enough the attendant pushing the cart brought it inside. Jimmy watched the attendant calmly go inside as Carl and Cindy walked up to Jimmy.

"That has to be good sign, right?" Carl pointed out.

A couple medical doctors walked out of the room, Judy being the next one to leave behind them. Jimmy stood up right away as Judy gave him a light, unconfident smile but a smile nonetheless. Dr. Miller left the room behind Judy and stood in front of the trio of childhood friends.

"How is he?" Cindy was the first to ask.

"He's stable." Dr. Miller answered. Cindy and Carl breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry that this happened." He turned specifically to Jimmy. " I know it's upsetting and inexcusable that our equipment failed but we can only work with what we have. Again, I'm sorry."

"Was there any damage?" Jimmy asked without hesitation.

"There's no physical damage. His heart stopped beating for 12 minutes. That's an unnaturally long time for someone to be resuscitated from but we were able to bring him back. One of our doctors is installing a new machine and monitor that should last for quite a while."

"What about mentally? Any damage?" Jimmy asked despite already knowing that answer.

Dr. Miller took a second to prepare a response. "Unfortunately if any damage was done we won't know until he wakes up. But 12 minutes is a long time and no oxygen was getting to his brain. Given his injury that's the most sensitive part of his body at present. We cannot be sure until he wakes up."

Jimmy turned away and sat back in the chair before Dr. Miller had even finished his explanation.

For the rest of the day Jimmy stayed in Sheen's room. He had looked at his phone to see VOX's estimates of how far Jerry could be from his lab. It had been more than an hour and the radius was too large to even bother making a search. He was defeated but didn't care about that at the moment. Later that night Carl and Cindy went to the bar. They invited Jimmy but he decided to stay behind. He felt most comfortable alone in his thoughts. It had been rough for the past two weeks with Sheen. The possibility of losing his friend had always been scary, but today it felt like a possible reality. After being officially dead for 12 minutes it was a miracle that the doctors were able to bring him back to life. But if his brain endured more damage within that time then he was more or less already dead. Nothing more than a vegetable. If that was the case then it would make sense to press the button now. He didn't want the burden of holding onto Sheen's belongings if he was never going to give them back. He wasn't seriously considering doing it there and then. He didn't know what to do. All he knew was he really needed his friend back. They all did.

* * *

The next morning Jimmy was ready to fly Carl back to Iowa as promised. He waited on his driveway as Carl was saying goodbye to his own folks. Carl was dressed in several layers despite it being fairly warm out. His parents hugged him as he walked out the door and waved goodbye as the hovercar rose from the street. The entire ride over was spent in silence. If one was in the car who didn't know what had happened they might've assumed the two were mad at each other. But what was there to say? If they could stop thinking about Sheen they would. But then Jimmy would have other problems with Jerry to worry about, as would Carl in his own way. And after that there was Cindy's family. It wasn't an easy time at all.

After an hour of flying in complete silence they had made it to Iowa city. The winds happened to be fairly harsh as it was snowing, but it wasn't anything the hovercar couldn't handle. Jimmy descended the hover car in front of the Hawks Ridge apartment complex where Carl instructed. The place seemed nice to Jimmy, but given the winter weather it was difficult to tell. Carl put on his beanie and lifted up his jacket hood.

"Well, I guess this is it." Carl said finally breaking the silence.

"Do you need help bringing anything in?" Jimmy offered politely given how harsh the wind outside was. He didn't have to offer. Carl could easily carry both bags himself. But he offered anyway.

"You'd go outside wearing that?" Carl asked pointing out that Jimmy didn't have enough layers on.

"I have a winter jacket in the back."

"Oh. Well yeah, you can help. That'd be cool actually." Carl said thankfully.

Carl got out of the hovercar to fetch his bags in the back as Jimmy put on a winter jacket. Outside it was really, really cold. Roughly around -10°c. Carl took the heavier duffle bag and Jimmy carried the backpack.

There was no denying he was curious to see what Carl and Elke's place looked like. Carl opened the door quickly to get them out of the cold. Of course once inside it wasn't exactly warm. Jimmy entered behind Carl into a dark, cold apartment and shut the door behind him. Carl first turned on the lights and then went for the heater. "You can leave the bag on the floor. I have to turn on the water. Make yourself at home." Carl went over another room. Jimmy continued to browse around the apartment. It was a fairly normal place for a college couple to live in. It was nice and clean. There were pictures of the two all around. Neatly organized bookcases. A nice TV, sofa, coffee table. There was also an empty fish tank, empty hamster cage, an empty terrarium. There was even what looked like a cat's feeding bowl down at his feet. It was odd not to have any pets around. But then again with how cold it was it would've been irresponsible to leave a pet alone when on vacation.

Carl came back from the room he was in. "You want some hot chocolate?" He offered.

"Yeah, thank you." Jimmy accepted politely. "Where are all your pets?" Jimmy asked in an attempt to start a conversation.

Carl entered the kitchen and took some chocolate powder from the cupboard. "A friend's looking after them. I have to pick them up later today."

"Oh." Jimmy nodded his head. Of course he knew that was the answer but he had no idea where to take the conversation now. He just took a seat as Carl microwaved a couple of mugs for hot chocolate.

When it was finished Carl mixed the drinks with some whipped cream and marshmallows. They both enjoyed the first warm sip that came from their hot chocolate. Yet there was still an uncomfortable awkward silence hanging in the air.

Carl was the first to break it. "Crazy week, huh?" He said in an attempt to lighten the mood a little.

Jimmy laughed at little after Carl pointed the obvious but then went back looking depressed. Carl didn't know what else to say. "He's going to be fine you know." He tried to reassure Jimmy.

"You don't know that." Jimmy responded looking up to make eye contact with Carl. He could tell Carl had good intentions but pretending things would be okay wasn't comforting.

"I don't." Carl admitted. "Still he's incredibly lucky to be alive. And we're lucky Nick is covering the bill. It could be worse."

"I also have to worry that a homicidal rodent I created is out there on the loose so if it can't get any worse than that I'll be beyond happy." Jimmy took a drink from his mug.

Carl looked down at the counter. "Well I'm just happy to be alive to be honest."

Jimmy didn't have time to think about it but he knew Carl was still freaked out over being in that building as it was coming down. He suddenly chuckled a bit realizing how absurd that was. "It's crazy. After all the stuff we've been through and this is the one that shakes us up." He said trying to lighten things up.

Carl wasn't the least bit relieved by Jimmy's attempt. "That's because things are different now." He said a bit more morose.

"Honestly, as scary as that was it was hardly the worst thing we've ever been through." With Carl's sudden downbeat attitude alongside Jimmy's attempt at lightening things up it was like they had both traded moods within seconds.

"You're probably right." Carl smiled a little saying that but it quickly faded. "But this one's different. You know, we're not young anymore. We can't go around on dangerous adventures now without worrying about what might happen."

"You were the one that wanted one."

"Yeah, I did. But now I realized we've got too much baggage to keep doing stuff like that. I've got a lot of things to live for. I've got a good job coming up. I'm going to get married. We have a kid on the way." Carl instantly noticed Jimmy's shocked expression. "Oh, man. I shouldn't have said that."

"You what?"

"Elke and I are having a baby." Carl was reluctant to admit.

Jimmy noted the not-so-enthusiastic tone is Carl's voice. It didn't sound like this was happening for the right reasons but he had to be supportive. "Wow, that's great!" He said trying to sound excited.

"Thanks, but I didn't want to say anything. Do me a favor and keep it quiet, okay. It's too soon to be telling that to people. I couldn't even tell my folks."

"No one will hear it from me." Jimmy reassured.

"Good… Good." Carl lowered his head a bit. "Honestly, it's weird. We didn't plan on this and I feel really bad about that. But at the same time I really feel it's time. We've been dating long enough that it was bound to happen at some point. But… I'm just scared I'll screw it up. Or that I'll run away or something stupid." Carl looked down at the counter still contemplating. Jimmy wasn't sure how to respond. Carl then continued. "When I was in the building I couldn't see anything. I really thought 'This it it. I'm going to die.' and it was horrible. I knew I was going to die and that meant I'd leave Elke alone with the baby. After making it out of there I want to believe I care enough that I'll give this my best but I just… I'm scared I'll fail at this."

"You won't fail, Carl. There's no way you can mess this up. You're the most self-less, caring person I know. There have been so many times where I cannot think for the life of me why you stick around with me. Even the other night you didn't have to go with me but you came anyway."

"Yeah, you said you needed me."

"You see what I mean? You're incredibly loyal. I don't think you have it in you to mess this up. I don't know why you'd worry about running away from the two of them. It's not your way." Jimmy smiles at Carl and enjoys the silence as he watches his friend absorb his words. "You'll be good."

"Thanks Jim, I appreciate that." Carl said grateful but unsure. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

"Right now I don't have a choice. I'm gonna have to find Jerry. It's too dangerous out there with him loose. He's smart, but he'll slip. I'll find him and I won't hurt him." Jimmy assured.

"That's good… I'm sorry about that."

Jimmy was a little perplexed by Carl's earnest apology. "Why are you apologizing?

"You were about to get him and I shouldn't have stopped you and told you Sheen was in trouble. It wouldn't have made a difference and you could've had him back by now."

"Don't do that." Jimmy told Carl, unable to stand the sound of him beating himself up. "I wasn't going to leave Sheen for anything. Anyway it happened and now I have to find him again. That's that."

Jimmy could tell Carl still had something else on his mind. "It's just…" Jimmy paid closer attention anticipating what Carl was about to say. "I can't lie, I'm really worried about you."

Jimmy chuckled "I know. You and everyone else." He said nonchalantly

"I'm serious. I love you, man." Those words, which were rarely said among male friends, got Jimmy's attention as he knew how serious Carl was getting. "I wouldn't be who I was now if you hadn't been in my life. I'm glad everything we went through happened, even the bad stuff. But I really miss that kid who was passionate about science, about adventure. Passionate about discovering what's out there. That was you at your best and I don't know what happened."

Jimmy scoffed. "I think you and Cindy have been talking about me too much." He responded in an attempt to shut down the topic at hand.

"Jim, everyone wants you to be your best self. You went to school early. You should be-"

"DAMN IT, I know." Jimmy snapped. "I should be insanely successful. I should be on the cover of Time. I should've brought world peace by now. I've heard it all. You don't think I want that. I did what I could but I always got shut down by everyone. 90% of my inventions are a catastrophe. Everything I create hurts someone and then I have to fix it somehow. I'm probably meant to build the doomsday device that's going to destroy the planet." He took a quick sip of his mug and sighed a deep breathe. "I don't want to be that. I'm… I'm just messed up, okay." He admitted while laughing uncomfortably. "I don't know what to do. And I'm sorry I'm such a fucking failure!"

Carl just sat back and watched his friend beat up on himself. After a good moment of silence passed he finally spoke. "You haven't failed, Jimmy. Not really. You haven't failed because you haven't really tried to succeed. Don't label yourself as a failure because you're worse than that.

"Are these supposed to be words of encouragement?"

"I'm just staying you gave up on trying."

Jimmy let out a tragic laugh as he started talking. "Well I'm sorry. I just can't figure it out, Carl. Everyone else apparently knows what they're supposed to be doing. But me, I'm the 'boy genius of Retroville' who was supposed to go on and do great things and I can't figure out how I'm supposed to function in this world."

Another bit of silence passed before Carl offered his suggestion. "Maybe you shouldn't." Jimmy looked at Carl confused at what he was getting at. "Face it, you're not like everyone else, Jimmy. The normal work life might not be for you."

"Then what do I do?" a frustrated Jimmy desperately asked.

"I don't know. Something crazy? Something no one but you is capable of doing. Something no one else would try. I don't have the answers but I know you can do something the rest of us cannot even possibly imagine."

Jimmy laughed a little at the absurdity of Carl's answer. "That's easier said than done." Jimmy took one last sip out of his mug and got up from his chair. "I should get going before the hovercar's snowed in. Thanks for the hot chocolate."

Jimmy extended his hand for the usual hand slap followed by a quick fist bump as a gesture of goodbye but of course Carl rejected it and went straight for a hug. The gesture shouldn't have surprised Jimmy, but with everything that was going on it was more than earned (and needed). Carl broke it off after a while. "It was good seeing you." Jimmy admitted.

"You too." Carl seemed happy to say. "Don't be a stranger. Drop in and say hello from time to time. There's no excuse not to."

Jimmy laughed. "No, I guess not."

Jimmy turned around walking towards the front door. He opened it but just stood there for a second. Eventually he turned around. "Thank you." Was all he could say to Carl.

Carl just smiled back. "Take care of yourself."

Jimmy nodded back in appreciation. Without wasting time he walked out the door towards his car. Carl held the door open behind him watching his friend disappear into the harsh wind.

* * *

On the way back Jimmy really thought about what Carl had said. He thought real hard at what the reason was for why he gave up. He didn't pin down a specific moment. It was just a bunch of small events that built up over time. The constant criticisms of his inventions got to him more and more. Eventually all the failure resulted in breaking him emotionally that he became very insecure. But that wasn't really it. At some point Jimmy forgot how to have fun. His work was no longer about him being inspired to build something because he wanted to. It become about the success he was expected to have after he went to Harvard. Everything he had done was in service of the idea that he would be big. It wasn't for the love of science. Jimmy had sold out his creativity and bought into the toxic idea that he had to become successful. Everything he worked on was in service creating his masterpiece. Every detail had to be perfect, exactly as he saw or it shouldn't be worked on at all. His ego blew up and anyone that questioned him he ignored. He didn't follow the advice of any of his professors in college. He had just assumed that he knew what he was doing. Over time it became more and more frustrating that Jimmy wasn't successful. The script he had in his head of his life wasn't working. Eventually this made him more and more depressed that he wasn't what he thought he should be. At a certain point he just accepted the fact that his ideal image of his life would never come true.

But Carl was right. Why should he be this success others expected of him? Why was he so desperate to prove his peers he was great? What would've been the point if he didn't do it for himself? Jimmy was gauging his success on everyone else's standards but his own. He stopped having fun doing what he loved on his own terms. That's why he wasn't happy. All these complaints about the world trying to use his talents for harm were just excuses. Sure there were government jobs with great pay that would use him but he knew he could do better. He knew he had it in him to be great. But maybe chasing that greatness isn't what he should do. Maybe greatness is something that happens when it's earned. It's true. He thought back on the good times of childhood. He thought of his friends. He thought of his relationship with Cindy. He thought of his adventures. The association he had with the BTSO. Lots of things. Every great thing that came to him arrived as a reward for his hard work. He never expected or even tried to make these things happen, but they all happened anyway. Why? Because he deserved it, even if he didn't know it.

He thought long and hard and he knew what he had to do. What he had always wanted to do. It was a crazy idea but it made sense to him. But there were still things holding him back. He had Sheen to worry about. He still had to find Jerry. He couldn't do it right now. But there was no reason to hurry. He could let the idea stew for a bit before he did anything rash. There were no plans to leave home yet, but he was glad he had this epiphany. He had Carl to thank for helping him figure it out.

As his car descended down to his driveway he couldn't help but feel good. For the first time in a long time he finally had a rough idea of how to approach adult life. But as he got out of the car he saw there was an ambulance at Cindy's house across the street. There were other neighbors standing outside their front doors looking to see what was happening. The ambulance began to drive away, but it wasn't flashing lights or setting off the sirens. It just drove away casually, moving out of Jimmy's view from Cindy's house. He saw Cindy's mother standing on the sidewalk crying as Cindy stood next to her trying to comfort her. The ambulance clearly wasn't in a hurry to get to where it was going. That wasn't at all a good sign.

In an instant the euphoric sensation that came from Jimmy Neutron's epiphany had evaporated.


	24. Chapter 24-I Need Your Help

On the morning of Friday, December 28 the deceased body of Cindy's father was taken to the morgue by local paramedics. He passed away at some point in the middle of the night from a heart attack. No one found out until morning. The funeral service was held on Monday, December 31. It was a gloomy, rainy day. Many of the folks that attended the funeral were friends that worked in the same business as Mr. Vortex. No extended family members were present. The only person Jimmy knew other than Cindy was Nick who traveled all the way from Detroit. Jimmy didn't want an explanation. He had his own ideas as to why.

Everyone met back at the Vortex residence after the funeral. They were all dressed in black, socializing around the house, drinking wine. Some of these conversations even contained laughter. They didn't sound like the kind were those partaking in reminiscence over the deceased.

Jimmy stood at the stairway, eavesdropping on the conversations being had. All the friendly exchanges were about business and money and who's an idiot at the office and blah blah blah. It seemed like no one cared that this man had died. Over at the kitchen there were people lined up to give Cindy and her mother their condolences, yet when they left Jimmy would hear their conversations. They didn't care. They didn't even have the decency to pretend they did. It was tragic. All these people showed up probably because it was a social obligation. The Vortex's were surrounded by people who "wished" them well, but they were alone in the grieving.

Jimmy looked over at them. Mrs. Vortex was the only person in the house who was genuinely crying. As a new widow it naturally wasn't surprising. But Cindy remained emotionless since Jimmy saw the ambulance leaving their driveway. It wasn't as though it was an unnatural reaction for her to have. She never showed any weakness. Rarely was she open about her emotions. In many ways Jimmy was similarly bottling up so much. But he knew on top of the funeral they had the same worries on their minds. He hadn't spoken to her since that night in the lab. Not really. A few exchanges but that was it. He wanted to check up on her but it seemed like the last thing she wanted was to be bothered. Just him being at the funeral probably was supportive enough for now.

…Then again maybe not.

Cindy had turned to her mother after a co-worker expressed condolences. Just before the next person in line had a chance she had managed to excuse herself. Jimmy couldn't hear it but the nod coming from Cindy's mother seemed understandable. She turned around and made a slow exit out of the room. As she kept moving she got closer and closer to the to Jimmy's direction. Her eyes seemed to be focusing on the staircase. Still concerned he kept watching to see where she was going. Walking behind the living room sofa it seemed like she was going to head upstairs, but her turn was a few degrees off from the first step and she took a step closer to Jimmy's general direction. Right away he straitened up waiting to hear what she was going to say. When she saw he made clear eye contact she grabbed on the railing. "Come with me." She told him as she made her way up the stairs. Her tone wasn't sad nor did her words come off as an order. But it sounded like she definitely needed some company. Without hesitating Jimmy followed her up the stairs.

She wasn't in a hurry but was walking slower than usual. Maybe it was because she was shaken up over her father's death or maybe she was just being polite. He didn't care. All he know was she asked for him and he was there for support.

Cindy opened the door to her room. The wallpaper had remained pink. Everything else looked like the room of a high school teen. That made sense of course since she had been away throughout all of college. Around the room there posters of bands, one of a Zac Efron movie, pictures of friends taken during high school. He looked around but couldn't see any from when they were kids. Not one with him in it. But Carl was there. Sheen and Libby too. It was interesting seeing pictures of Carl and how he physically had changed over the four years of high school. Sheen also seemed progressively happier over the four years. Shame about what happened to him after. But seeing these snapshots of their memories was yet another reminder of what he had missed. He truly regretted not staying in Retroville with his friends, but right now was not the time he wanted to be thinking of that. He focused back on Cindy who took a seat on her bed. He closed the door behind him.

She had been looking at the floor for a bit, then brought her head back up to see Jimmy's gaze on her. For a while they just looked at each other. What was there to say? Why did she want Jimmy upstairs? He didn't know exactly what was on her mind. She started to seem annoyed that he was just looking at her. He had no idea if he was making some rude face or anything like that. At this point he was just waiting for her to break the silence.

"Yeah?" Cindy asked somewhat upset as if she were unaware of why they were in her room.

He couldn't believe it. The last thing he wanted to do was make her angry. Under these circumstances he couldn't blame her for an irrational reaction like that but it annoyed him a little. He didn't want to accidentally say the wrong thing. "I don't-" He hesitated. "You brought me in here, Cindy." He pointed out.

Her eyes went up to the wall as he noticed her realizing what was going on. He didn't want to make her feel even stupider.

"Is everything okay?" Jimmy asked concerned. Cindy's eyes went back to him. He could see her expression was changing to a more anger-fueled gesture. He quickly spoke again before she had the chance to say anything. "I mean- Okay obviously it's not but… I guess just… I don't know, I'm sorry." Jimmy looked away down at the floor scratching his head.

"It's okay, Neutron. I know what you mean." She went back to looking down at the floor. It was quiet for just a little longer. Rather than standing awkwardly he let his back slide down against the door and sat on the floor waiting for her to say something. "It's weird." She kept looking at the floor. "There's people downstairs right now and I don't know any of them. They stand in front of me and my mom telling us how great my father was and how we were in their prayers. They tell me he truly loved us and that I will make him proud but that's not the truth, Jimmy." She nearly broke into tears. It wasn't as though she were holding it back on purpose but more like she couldn't let out a tear even if she wanted. "I've known for a long time that my family isn't normal. We aren't sentimental. I never got a hug or kiss from him. The most affection he ever gave me was a pat on the back for good grades and sports victories. I don't relate to my family. I'm just biologically related to them and I've been okay with that. I don't even miss him at all but now everyone is telling me how he was such a great caring man. A wonderful person and that's not what I saw. And then these same people go off talking about golfing as the next person repeats the same thing and I'm just standing there thinking no one cares. Not even me. I don't even know if my mom is really crying or she's faking it."

"She just lost her husband. Of course she's sad."

"You don't know what they were like last week."

"They were married years before you were born. They're your parents, Cindy. They knew each other in ways you're not supposed to know. They were bound to yell from time to time."

"Maybe... I guess that makes one person downstairs who actually cares."

"Don't say that, Cindy. You know that's not true."

"It _is_ true. No one cares."

Jimmy didn't know what to do. He was never one for providing the shoulder to cry on. He couldn't do anything but ask her why. "Why did you bring me up here?" He asked

She thought about it before responding. "I feel like I should care but I don't. I'm supposed to be down there crying and I cannot even do that. I mean… does that mean I'm some cold, heartless person that doesn't care about my own family? I'm not even sure they cared about me other than being some prize that made them look good. Am I going to be like those people down there who care more about business instead of respecting the dead? What does that say about me, that I don't care about anyone? I put my studies over making friends in school because I want to be successful. Is that what I'm going to turn into downstairs? Even right now I feel selfish thinking about myself when I should be mourning over my own father."

"Stop it!" Jimmy quickly interjected. "Stop doing that, Cindy. You're not heartless. I don't know about your family life apart from the few things you've told me. But I know you've always cared about your friends. Look around you." Jimmy pointed at the photos on the wall. "I know you've always had Libby's back and she always had yours. I know you helped Carl become who he is now. He's told me many times how grateful he was for having you help him gain confidence in himself. I know you care about Sheen because you spend your lunch hours keeping him company. So if you seriously are going to start telling me that you never cared about your friends then I'm even more socially retarded than you already think I am." Cindy managed to laugh a little at that, just as he had hoped. "Your dad may have been a jerk. He never was nice around me. But I know you cared about him. You came back when you found out he had cancer. You could've gotten a better job in the bay area but you came back and tried to fix things. I'm sorry if that didn't work out but the fact you tried means you care. And you're right, you're parents always seemed emotionally distant. But they spent years supporting you while you grew up. They motivated you into doing extracurricular activities because they thought that was best for you. They paid for your tuition so you could have a good future. They pushed you to go beyond your limits and I have nothing but admiration for them because they created one of the coolest people I've ever known."

Cindy looked at him surprised by that admission. "I'm not ashamed to admit it, Cindy." He continued. "Even if we were at each other's throats you inspired me to be better. Even when we didn't get along I still cared about you a lot. You never were emotionally vulnerable. You're just as stubborn as your parents when it comes to admitting what you really feel. But just because they didn't always show you affection doesn't mean they don't love you." Jimmy kept looking into Cindy's eyes. He was a little surprised himself at what came out of his mouth. His words clearly were affecting her. Whether or not it was helping wasn't clear, but it was what he felt. To his own surprise it was indeed what he really felt. But that was enough. "Maybe that's just how your family gets along. Even if the best way they could give affection is a pat on the back, that's still something."

Jimmy waited for her to say something back, but she just kept looking at him. It wasn't clear what effect his words had, But when she looked back down at the floor and didn't say anything it was clear she didn't feel any better. It hurt him to see her so down, but for today of all days it's not like he could've expected her to act differently. But he really wanted to help. He just didn't know what else to do.

"Look, if you need to be alone right now I can leave."

"Yeah." It deflated him to hear her say it. "You can go downstairs if you want."

'If I want' he thought. As in he was being given a choice. Yet it wasn't clear to him that she wanted him to leave or to stay. A bunch of strangers were downstairs trying to make her feel better and he was the one she brought to her room and opened up to. Obviously she wanted him around. But her silence made it seem like after being surrounded by strangers all day maybe she just needed to be alone for a little bit.

He got up from the ground and opened the door. He wasn't leaving because he wanted to, but rather because it was what he thought was best. But he didn't want to risk leaving her feeling bad for what he said.

"Cindy, I'm sorry if I said something that offended you." He admitted and then walked out the door. He didn't notice she immediately looked up at him surprised by what he just said.

* * *

Jimmy reoccupied his spot downstairs. He stood there for an hour making no contact with anybody. Everyone who wanted to say something to the Vortex family must've already had as Sasha sat alone on the sofa. Looking at this poor widow made him think Cindy just had to be wrong. She had to be. There was no way that woman could be putting on a show for the sake of appearances. What was coming from her was genuine sadness, genuine loneliness. The woman had lost her life partner and it clearly had an effect on her. She might've been trying to suppress it but it was there. He couldn't see her as a completely heartless person like Cindy suggested. In a room full of "friends" busy talking about their personal lives she was the one that seemed the most human.

"Well look who's having fun over here." Jimmy heard coming from behind him. He turned around to see it was none other than Nick Dean who was approaching with a friendly smile of sorts.

"Are you kidding me?" Jimmy said somewhat disgusted.

"Relax. I'm just trying to be friendly to start a conversation."

"Yeah, you and and everyone else here. You want to tell me how many hole in one's you got playing golf last week too?"

"These people are unbelievable." Nick said quiet enough for Jimmy to be the only one in the room to hear.

"They're rich. That's your crowd."

"I might be rich now but I'm never going to be caught dead playing golf with a bunch of greedy jerks."

"Why are you even here? I thought you went back to Detroit."

"I did. I wanted to come here to pay my respects." He said with geuine sadness.

"Right, because you knew him so well." Jimmy said to be insulting.

Nick was clearly offended. "Dude, that's not cool. Why are you even being a jerk like that? You think I'm trying to get you to sign a contract? I'm here to pay my respects. It's not like every time I see you I'm only trying to buy you. You really have me pegged wrong."

"Fine, you're not here for me... What happened then; Did Cindy ask you to be here?"

"I came here because I actually knew the man pretty well and I wanted to pay my respects."

"How'd you know him?"

"When me and Cindy dated in high school. He was very protective." Jimmy was surprised to hear it, mainly because it was a plausible story. " Her parents were cool with me. I think her mom liked me more because I played football. But her dad was actually really cool to me."

"How?" Jimmy asked. Nick turned to him looking like he was getting tired of Jimmy's pandering tone when asking questions but this time he was serious. "I'm really curious. No one in school knew her parents that well. Not even Libby. The Vortex family has always been a bit of a mystery. Every Time I heard something it was always about the bad stuff."

"I know what you mean. I heard about it too. But to me they were always cool. Especially her dad. He did the whole intimidating "you're dating my high school daughter" thing the night we first met but then we would talk like normal guys about football and stuff so I guess he liked me after that. Even after Cindy and I broke up he gave me advice on how to start my own business and it's worked out pretty great for me."

"Did he ever talk about Cindy?"

"All the time. I'm pretty sure he was just making sure we didn't do anything wrong but I had no problem with it. There was nothing to hide. He just wanted to see if I was a decent guy."

"Did he ever say anything about her?"

Nick gave Jimmy a different look. One he had never seen before. Jimmy was asking for a very specific reason but it seemed like Nick unintentionally discovered what that was. His eyes looked upstairs to where Cindy's room would be and he smiled a little to himself. "I guess that explains why she's been so quiet, huh." Nick said to himself although obviously also for Jimmy to hear. He looked back down to Jimmy. "Believe it or not he had nothing but great things to say. He was proud of her. He really was."

"You should go up there and tell her that. She really needs to hear that."

"Yeah I know, Neutron. She's upset right now trying to figure out why she couldn't get along with her family and whether or not they really care about her. She's told me that before. I really hoped she would've gotten over it after high school.

"Still you should tell her what he said."

"You don't think I tried? She'd say I was just telling her a lie to make her feel better. I even tried telling her dad to talk to her but he'd change the conversation. It might sound stupid but after a while I realized they were talking to each other through me. They're really insecure. I don't know why. It's like they were afraid to be honest with each other. They could only do it through me. And even then they wouldn't believe it. It's really sad. The Vortex's are strange, stubborn folks."

Stubborn indeed. It was tragic to think that this was a family that actually did care about one another but were afraid to show it. But it did prove him right. Jimmy knew it was impossible for Cindy's parents to not care about her.

Shortly after people started leaving the house. Jimmy expressed his condolences to Mrs. Vortex. She never did like him much and it seemed like that didn't change, but she was polite nonetheless. They waited for Cindy to come back down, but once everyone was gone it seemed pointless to wait. It was best to leave her in her own space.

It had stopped raining. Jimmy and Nick were the last to leave. The walked over to the curb where Nick had parked his rental car. In an unexpected move it was Jimmy who was the first to extend his hand for a handshake. "Nick." As he was getting in the car Nick turned around and saw the gesture. "I just want to say thank you. For helping with Sheen."

Nick reached for the hand. "Not a problem, Neutron." They shook hands. "He's my friend too."

They let go. Jimmy stood back as Nick got back in the car. He had been told several times that it was stupid to be angry with Nick. Just now he was starting to see that everyone else was right.

Suddenly an impulse took over. It was possible that Nick could just be trying to use him, but he didn't care anymore. It was about time he did something.

As the car engine started Jimmy knocked on the window before it was too late. Nick turned to see Jimmy was still there. The window came down. "Yeah?" Nick asked.

"Is your offer still the same?" Jimmy asked as though in a hurry for an answer.

Nick looked back at him perplexed. "Seriously, after a funeral this is where your going to ask me?"

"Yeah, I know." He responded in a hurry.

"I think you need time to think this out."

"Nick, I can't keep dodging this. You were a dick in junior high but it was stupid of me for using that as an excuse. You know it's inevitable that people are going to be driving hovercars in the future and if we don't put it out there someone else is going to invent it. If that happens I'll always regret that. So while I'm feeling good about it we should start talking about making a deal. So is your offer still the same?"

Nick kept looking at Jimmy perplexed but he couldn't ignore the opportunity. "5%" He answered still sounding worried.

"You can have 25%." Jimmy fired back without hesitating.

Nick sat back and shifted the car preparing to drive off. "Okay, you really need to think about this a bit longer."

"I don't have to. It's completely fair."

"Do you realize that with 25% I'll become a billionaire when it hits the market?"

"You don't think I'll be okay with 75%? It's more than enough. I'm not greedy. I don't need 95%."

"Are you serious?" Nick asks. Jimmy nods back. "Okay, what are your terms?"

"The same one you proposed. You lend me the money to purchase the patent and then your company gets exclusive rights to use it for the first 5 years the hover car is on the market. After that other auto companies can build their own based on my design. We draw up a contract that says I own 75% of the patent and you own the other 25% and I'll pay you back with the first round of profits. When we're done with that we can have prototypes ready three months from now. Does that sound fair?"

It was a lot to take in for Nick. Years spent of trying to make the deal with Jimmy and here it was coming at the weirdest time. He thought it over before finally saying "Okay, um… Can I get you to fly over tomorrow and I'll have my lawyer prepare a contract?"

"That's a start."

"Alright." Nick said with a confused enthusiasm. "Can you come to my office tomorrow at 9am?"

"I don't have anything else to do."

"Great." Nick put his hand out the window for a handshake. Jimmy took it and sealed the deal. "I'll have someone pick you up tomorrow early in the morning and take you to the airport."

"Um, Nick." Jimmy pointed at his hovercar in the driveway.

Nick laughed at his own stupidity. "Sorry, it's a habit to offer a jetride to people I do business with."

"Well once those babies are on the market you won't have to."

Nick nods and laughs. "Alright, I'll cancel my meetings to fit you in tomorrow. I have your number. I'll let you know where to go. I have to leave right now or I'm going to miss my plane. See you tomorrow." Nick waved as the window came up.

Jimmy waved back. He stood in the middle of the road as Nick drove away. Suddenly it started to rain again. How ominously convenient. The thought popped in his head wondering if this was a mistake, but then he realized it was probably just because of the rain he started to think that.

* * *

It continued to rain later that night. Jimmy sat at his desk in his room going through the designs he needed to present for the patent application. He organized them properly in a binder and printed some of the necessary info he had stored on his computer. He still had second thoughts but he felt it was reasonable to trust Nick. He was incredibly naive to ask only for 5%. But then again he was still a fairly young entrepreneur. Besides Jimmy didn't need a lawyer. He was a genius after all. He knew about law after reading the textbook within 2 hours. If Nick was going to screw him over he would catch on.

What worried him the most was the 75%. He was worried that being wealthy would make people treat him differently. He wasn't sure he could handle it. Even 75% of royalties on the hovercar would make him the richest person on the planet. He'd never have to work again. That scared him more than anything. He would have basically peaked as the greatest success story in human history and there would be nothing left for him to accomplish. But like Carl said he wasn't like anyone else and success for him couldn't be gauged by the standard humanity has for everyone else. Carl was right. He had to do something crazy that no one else was capable of. Financial success might be the ticket to happiness for other people but it wouldn't be enough for him. Then he thought about what Cindy had told him the day before her father passed away. Remembering that conversation made him smile. He looked across the street over to that room.

Suddenly the light came on. He saw Cindy enter, standing next to the light switch at her door. She was now in a shirt and pajama bottoms about to go to bed. She saw him across the street as well. It was clear to her he was looking back. Jimmy couldn't help but feel sorry for her and her mom. It was sad that the family couldn't be honest with one another. It was sad that Nick tried to tell her the truth and she would dismiss it. Because of that he felt even worse about what he had told her when she brought him upstairs. He was honest, but now he wasn't sure if that was what she needed. He couldn't see her face clearly enough from far away to know what she was thinking.

After just looking back at one another it was Cindy who waved back at him making the first attempt at communication. Jimmy waved back innocently. It was a good sign that he at least didn't completely upset her. He then watched her as she went over to her desk and picked up her phone. He picked up his phone from his desk expecting to hear from her. Sure enough it started ringing. He answered.

Jimmy cleared his throat. "Hey."

"Hey." She replied back.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah." She said despite still sounding down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He said still sounding more concerned about her.

"I just want you to know I wasn't offended. I'm surprised you would think that."

That took him aback. "I'm sorry, I wasn't sure that you-"

"Don't apologize. I'm glad you told me." Silence hung for a bit. "Really. Thank you. I really did appreciate it."

"Your welcome." He said relieved but still concerned about her. But it was nice to hear. It worried him that they wouldn't be talking for a long time after that.

"I just wanted you to know that."

"Thank you." He said sincerely. "Sleep well, alright."

"I'll try. Kind of tough with the fireworks that'll go off in a bit."

Jimmy chuckled. "Neighbors have no respect for the dead." He could hear Cindy chuckle back a little. "Well happy New Year, Cindy. I hope it's a better one for you."

A short silence passed before she responded. "You too. Happy New Year."

"I'll see you around soon?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll see ya around." He was relieved to hear her say that. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Cindy." He waved back to her. She returned the wave as she hung up the phone and closed the curtains.

Jimmy returned to organizing his binder. He was incredibly thankful for her call. It relieved the guilt that he felt for whatever reason. But despite everything that had happened it felt like everything was going to be okay. It was a pretty good way to end the year.

Suddenly VOX's interface took over his computer as a red alert flashed.

INTRUDER. INTRUDER.

At that moment thunder and lightning conveniently struck during Jimmy's realization that someone was breaking into the lab. He dropped everything he was doing ran out of the room.

* * *

Jimmy ran through the backdoor outside in the pouring rain. The last thing he wanted to end the year with was someone destroying his lab. But as he got closer to the clubhouse a small speck of red was visible on the green welcome mat. He kept running towards it, closer and closer when the red speck become clearer. He immediately stopped when the speck turned around.

Here he was, outside in the pouring rain without anything to defend himself with when in front of him was a tiny but presumably loaded mech suit that was operational. No weapons were pointed at him but he wasn't willing to run away and take a chance that he wouldn't be killed on the spot. He couldn't do anything but stand there.

The suit stood in place facing him for a while until it was evident Jimmy was not going to move. It took a few steps aside and gestured with one mechanical arm to the door.

He knew what it meant. Jimmy cautiously stepped towards the front careful of his every movement. He didn't want to die tonight. But he was going to have to think of something. The fate of the world may have counted on it. He looked carefully around him to make sure there wasn't anything odd. His was worried an army of mice could suddenly storm ahead. It was too dark to see but even then it didn't look like there were mice hiding. Just the suit. Hopefully that was it.

Without waiting to be told he took a strand of his hair to open the clubhouse. The door opened. Jimmy looked down to the mouse in the suit waiting for it to go inside. The arm gestured for Jimmy to go first. He sighed, originally hoping he could trap it if he was ahead but that wasn't happening. He'd have to walk with a gun behind his back. They entered the clubhouse. Once the door was shut Jimmy looked back to the suit. The arm then pointed over to the table and then down. It wasn't a shock. He knew he was being guided to the lab. He went over to the bookshelf, hit the button to open the screen and opened the entry tube from there. Of course he would go first but he waited for the command anyway. The suit pointed for him to go down and he did.

They went from Goddard's resting area, to the bridge in the hangar, then into the lab itself. Right away Jimmy looked for a weapon of some sort. Something he could fight back with. He found it. The cheese ray. Maybe not threatening but it was enough to do the trick. It rested near his monitor by the keyboard. He started moving in that direction casually hoping he wouldn't be stopped. Luckily the mouse in the suit paid no attention to where he went and just moved toward the cage. Jimmy stopped when he saw he was within arms reach, waiting to see what the mouse did. It just kept moving to the cage. It walked over until Jimmy was no longer within eyesight. Right then he grabbed the cheese ray and held it behind his back. He went towards the mouse, keeping safe distance and hiding the cheese ray as best as he could to appear natural.

The suit came to a halt in front of the cage. Jimmy slowed his steps as he waited for movement. The mouse had his back to Jimmy. He waited as long as he could but it was taking too long. He risked it, aiming the cheese ray at the suit. If it moved even slightly he was going to fire. It didn't matter how guilty he would've felt, the world would be better off if Jerry didn't exist. He was too unpredictable.

Suddenly a hiss of smoke emerged from the suit as Jimmy saw it shifting. It was opening up.

Jimmy was more on edge now than he was before. He expected the mouse to come out and face him directly with some kind of weapon in his hand.

But no, that didn't happen. Instead Jerry got open of the suit, the only device on him being the communicator Jimmy put on him.

Jerry didn't look back. He just crawled up to the cage paying no attention to Jimmy holding aim on him with the cheese ray. The mouse hoped into the cage where the latch was opened on top and closed it behind him.

… And that was it. The mech suit was left open on the floor. Jimmy was speechless. He moved forward with caution, unsure if the mech suit possessed a miniature bomb or something worse. The cage was built to protect Jerry on the inside from the most severe explosion. He was safer in there than Jimmy was in the lab. Whether he knew that or not was not something Jimmy could know. Suddenly green letters on the screen above the cage lit up. "You can have the suit." It read.

Jimmy was confused. Why did he come back? Was this some kind of trap? If it wasn't then what was going on. Either way he wasn't going to take a risk. To be safe he fired the cheesery at the suit. It was neutralized in dairy and that was that. Any threat had been resolved.

But now one more question was left: What did he come back for? Willingly too. What was he going to do?

There was no other way to find out but ask. After all he installed the communicator for that specific purpose. "What's going on?" Jimmy called out. An echo came back to him with no answer coming from the monitor. "Jerry?" Still nothing. "Why did you come back?"

The screen lit up. The words "_I got_" appeared then nothing else. A line flashed after the last letter suggesting he was thinking of what to type. Jerry then backspaced the words and typed something new.

"_Leave me alone._"

"What?" Jimmy said to himself. "I'm not leaving until you tell me why you're here."

_"Get out!"_

Jimmy was more frustrated than confused. He had spent the last 5 minutes worrying whether or not he might get killed but this was just annoying. No explanation at all. He just snapped.

Jimmy walked straight to the cage infuriated. He grabbed the lid and slammed it open. Jerry, who was laying on the ground, flinched at the sight of Jimmy.

"Now look, I'm not going to give you all the useless details of my life right now. But I have had one hell of a week and you're one of the biggest problems I've had to deal with. So I don't want you sleeping in my lab unless you tell me what the fuck is going on!" The mouse remained startled, just staring up at Jimmy. Things remained silent and Jerry hadn't moved. Jimmy threw his hands up in defeat. "ANYTHING! Just tell me something! I don't care if it's a lie, just give me one answer!"

Jerry looked closely at Jimmy. He knew he must've caused this poor human quite a bit of stress. And he was under the protection of him. It only seemed fair that he should at least offer an explanation. He began to type. Jimmy looked over to the screen as words appeared.

"_Went home to family._

_Community didn't recognize me._

_Too smart for them now._

_Can't connect with own kind._

_Don't belong."_

It was a vague explanation (obviously it would've taken longer to write full sentences), but it was enough. Jerry's human mind had gone beyond that of his kind. His mate, his offspring. They didn't even recognize him. Jerry had grown beyond the basic instincts of a mouse and demanded more from communication. That was something no one could provide. He was truly alone.

Jimmy understood. But there wasn't anything for him to say. He definitely owed an apology for making Jerry what he was, but he didn't know how to repay him.

Jimmy closed the lid and honored Jerry's first request.

* * *

Two minutes till midnight.

It had stopped raining. Jimmy sat in his backyard looking up at the sky. The clouds had moved on and the full moon revealed itself. Perfect timing. He grabbed a bottle of beer as an obligation to at least honor the festivities. It was the nonalcoholic beer his mom drank, but it was better than nothing.

The neighbors counted down to zero. Jimmy raised his bottle making a toast to himself. "Here's to billions and trillions of dollars within the coming years." Once the deal was made at his meeting with Nick he was going to be incredibly successful all for something he had made as a kid… and that was it. It was about time, he thought. It made sense that he at least make money off the "flying car."

But after that he would have nothing else to look forward to. It may have been arrogant to assume it would be a success, but the world would be incredibly backwards if he hadn't become one. It was his invention and it worked. It was easy to use providing that people learn how to use it properly. It was just like learning how to drive a car. He was going to make it big. If he was down then someone would tell him to cheer up since he's rich.

He'd be okay. Sheen might not. If he could make Cindy feel a little better. Carl would probably be okay. He was too good a guy to be a terrible husband and father. But Jimmy was about to become super rich and he didn't want it. He knew he would have to worry about his dad begging for money. If Sheen woke up he'd probably do the same and drag his life even further down the drain. This was his fate. He had lived the peak years of his life too early. Pretty soon he would be just like Jerry, disconnected from the ones he was close to till he stopped caring about them. Happy New Year indeed.

Jimmy kept looking up at the fireworks. Beyond that, up at the sky, the stars, the moon. He started to think of what was out there. He thought about his old adventures, about when he saved his parents. All his travels in space. Cindy did have a point. Of all the things from his childhood their adventures were the best part. They did come across some pretty incredible discoveries. Even if he was going to be filthy rich that didn't mean he had to stop exploring.

But going would mean having to leave his loved ones. That was the problem. He had a million reasons to go. A month earlier if he had figured this out he would've gone. But even after all the chaos that happened in the past few weeks he was grateful to have his friends in his life. Having Cindy back was also enough of a reason to stay. And with her father passing away it was nearly mandatory.

But he had to try something. Everyone expects him to succeed and he at least had to try. It wasn't like he had to leave right now, but it was time to start seriously planning for the future. He knew exactly what he needed to do to leave things on good terms, starting with righting a wrong by a certain mouse.

* * *

Jerry remained lying down in the same spot when the hatch suddenly opened again. He flinched and saw a serious Jimmy looking down at him.

""I'm responsible for making you a stranger to your family and your kind. I ruined your life and I'm sorry."

Jerry seemed stunned by the apology. Jimmy was desperate to make this right. He waited for Jerry to say something but the mouse just kept looking. He finally turned his head back and rested on the ground.

Jimmy stood back and sighed. He had expected more but it wasn't like he could easily be forgiven. It hurt to see Jerry completely dismiss him like that. It hurt to see anyone be depressed for any reason. He'd been there himself and it hadn't gotten him anywhere… That was it. Even if he couldn't be forgiven he wasn't going to allow Jerry to waste his life.

Jimmy leaned back to the lid of the cage. "Look, you can stay down here and sulk if that's what you really want but all you'll be doing is wasting time which you'll regret. Trust me, I've been there."

Jerry looked back at Jimmy surprised by the reaction. He stared into his eyes. Jimmy just stayed there hoping he'd say something back.

Jerry then got up and crawled closer for Jimmy to see him better. Jimmy smiled thinking he got through to the mouse.

Jerry began typing. "_Am useless. What do I do?"_

Jimmy knew the feeling. He'd felt it all those years because he gave up on his purpose. But now he found one. It was time to offer Jerry the same.

"I need your help."


	25. Chapter 25-Three Months Later

3 MONTHS LATER

Nick Dean resided in a small farm house an hour outside of Detroit. In the dining room he stood at the end of the table with his lawyer waiting for his new business partner, Jimmy Neutron, to sign the final document.

Jimmy looked over everything carefully. He checked, double checked, triple checked so on, focusing on his section just so he wouldn't get screwed over.

It had been an hour since he sat there reading it. Nick's lawyer was getting impatient. He also was tired of waiting for that matter. "You want the audiobook version too, Neutron?"

"Just double checking. It's a lot of money to leave lying around, you know."

Nick put his hands behind his head and took a deep breathe. "Look, we've been over this 50 times. You just reread it 10 times. Your 75% goes to JN co. and I get 25%. Half of your profits go into a savings account accessible only to you and the other half go into your company account which only you and your mom have access to. She has the right to make decisions for your company and blah blah blah. You read it. You even helped write it. You know it's legitimate so just sign it so we can get this done with."

Jimmy laughs. "There's no point in dragging this out I guess."

He put pen to paper and made the final signature. Nick let his hands hit the table in victory. "Finally!"

The lawyer quickly grabbed the papers and left the room. "I'll see you tomorrow, Brock." Nick said as the lawyer left the house.

Jimmy sat back in the chair and took a deep sigh, relieved it was all over.

"It's crazy, right?" Jimmy looked up at Nick and listened. "You already made $5 million from the prototypes and it's only going to get bigger after that. I'm surprised you didn't start doing this on your own a long time ago."

"Well I'm just glad my end of it is over." Jimmy chuckled and sighed. "It was a pain in the ass getting the DMV and FAA heads in the same room."

"You think that was bad? I still have to go to Washington and finalize the traffic laws for the sky. If you stayed longer that would be great. You're a natural when it comes to being a businessman."

"You think so?"

"You just spent an hour making sure you're leaving your company in perfect shape. I'm going to have to spend the next two weeks trying to get these guys in Washington to agree when you could do it in 2 minutes.

"You're using my proposal. That should help."

"Yes I am, and thank you for that by the way. It would've taken my people years to come up with a proposal that made sense."

"Benefit of being a genius." Jimmy smiled pointing at his head.

"You really helped fast tracked this thing. In a couple months the incredibly wealthy that can afford it will be up there flying. In 3 years everyone else will be able to."Jimmy looked down and smiled lightly. "This is the largest transportation shift since the invention of the automobile. You really are changing the world by doing this. You should be proud."

"I'm not trying to become rich, you know. That's not my goal."

"That's not what I'm saying, Neutron. You're making the world a smaller place and that's cool. I think that's what we need. That's what I love about what you're doing now. We're all going to get tired of flying around here that we'll have to go beyond somewhere else... And when we're ready we'll catch up with you."

Jimmy looks down depressed.

"What's up with you? You should be happy about that."

Jimmy chuckles. "No. It's not a problem. I really appreciate what you're saying." He struggled to form the coherent words. He breathed a deep sigh. "It's just leaving is a bit tougher than I thought it would be."

"You tell anyone yet?"

"Just you and my mom know. I still need to see Carl. I'm going to try to tell Cindy tonight but… It's not easy... And then there's Sheen."

"Don't worry about Sheen. I spent $4 million from this deal just so the hospital could get new equipment. They shouldn't have another incident like that again. Besides have you seen how much weight he lost just by being in bed? That kid's crazy high-metabolism jumpstarted again. That's gotta be a good sign."

"I'm just worried... If his brain is okay. Everyone's doing fine now but Sheen might… I'm just really worried."

"His body is healthy. That has to be a good sign, right?"

Jimmy didn't answer. It was easy to hope things would be okay. Hell, it was practically necessary. But the possibility of Sheen's bleak future was more than enough to instill doubt.

A beautiful pregnant woman then entered the room. "Hey hon. You finished?"

"I am." Nick answered as he rested his hands on her belly. She came in for a quick kiss, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired of waiting. I just want him to come out right now."

"Any day now, babe. Could be today. You never know."

She turns to see Jimmy sitting at the other end of the table. "Is this Jimmy Neutron."

"It is." Nick confirmed.

She walks up to him. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Rachel." She extends her hand.

Jimmy gets up to be polite and shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nick's told me a lot about you. I'm glad to see you two are working together."

"Just happy it worked out." Jimmy smiled slightly, not knowing what else he could say to her.

"Did you boys want anything to drink or…"

Jimmy looked over to Nick. "Actually I have to get going but I appreciate the offer."

"Oh. Well maybe we can have you over for dinner one of these nights."

Jimmy smiled lightly. "Maybe. I'm sure that'd be nice."

"Okay, well I'll let you boys finish your work. I'm just going to watch Netflix and hope James pops out soon."

"Alright babe." Nick gives her a quick kiss. "I'll be with you in a bit."

Rachel smiles and leaves the room. "Bye Jimmy."

James? How could he not react to that. He immediately looked at Nick who clearly expected him to.

Jimmy smiled. "James, huh?"

Nick shook his arms while his hands were in his pockets. "Yep."

Jimmy chuckled. "I wonder where you got that idea."

"Believe it or not she was the one that picked the name."

"Really?" Jimmy said with a sarcastic "yeah, right…" delivery.

"Honestly, I think she chose it because she has a celebrity crush on James Franco."

Jimmy dropped the smartalec response. "Yeah?" He chuckled. As much as he wanted to rub it in it actually did sound plausible.

"Yeah." Nick confirmed. "I can't wait either though. Any day now I'm going to be a dad. It's crazy."

"Well I'm happy for you."

"Thanks man." Jimmy stood there awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. He was ready to go home. "But you know I did agree with the name because it reminded me of somebody."

It caught Jimmy's interest. "Who?" he asked. The answer was obvious but he wanted to hear it anyway.

Nick smiled thinking back. "Just this geeky kid I grew up with that saved my life many times. I wouldn't be where I was if I never met him."

Jimmy smiled. "Well… that's a good name to have. I should know." Nick laughed. "I should get going. I've got a lot to do."

"Yeah."

Jimmy walked over to Nick and extended his arm for a handshake. "Well good luck, Nick." They grabbed palms and made a firm handshake. Jimmy smiled. "You'll do great. I know it."

Nick smiled back. "You'll do better. I know it."

They released their grip. Nick then put an arm around Jimmy's shoulder guiding him out the door. He opened it for him. "Take care of yourself out there, man."

"I will. Thanks for everything."

Nick stood at the door as he watched Jimmy fly away in his hovercar. Their lives were going to change forever.

* * *

Judy sat at the kitchen table looking over business paper. Jimmy leaned up against the counter.

"Basically it leaves you in charge of my company. If you want to expand it or do just about anything with it you can. Nothing moves ahead unless you say so except for the hover cars. I already gave Nick full access. You don't have to do anything with it if you don't want to. You could keep working at the hospital and ignore it. Or you can leave. Start fresh. It's up to you."

"Jimmy, I wouldn't know what to do."

"Mom, I'm sure you are a great nurse but I don't think you should be working all day, coming back home tired and alone. Maybe you should travel. Meet people. I don't know, maybe do something you always wanted to but couldn't before. You'll have enough money."

"I'm not thinking about the money, Jimmy. It's just… Is this what you want to do?"

Jimmy groans annoyed as his head falls back. "Mom."

"I'm serious, Jimmy. I know I've been bugging you about leaving the house and growing up. I just want you to do the right thing. You've already started your own business. You've made a lot of money. You're already successful."

"Mom, this is something I have to do."

Judy looked back down at the paper. "If you think that's best." She picked up the pen and signed it. She now was in charge of Jimmy's finances.

"I guess you're in charge." Jimmy said with a smile, trying to sound happy. His mom was still clearly worried.

Silence passes between them. "Also don't forget that when Sheen wakes up I want you to-"

"I know. I know. You told me a million times." Judy responded. "Have you told your father you're leaving."

His eyes widened. He didn't want to focus on the issue. He did his best not to think about it, but of course it was inevitable that it would be brought up. "Um… I thought about it… But I'm not sure I want to tell him."

"Oh Jimmy." She frowned.

"What?"

"He's your father."

"I know, but-"

"He deserves to know where you're going."

"Yeah, but then if I talk to him he's going to ask me all these questions. And then he'll ask me about my company. And then he's going to start asking me for money."

"You don't know that."

"Mom, I don't-… How can I trust him. I didn't realize it until after you divorced that he's always been incredibly self centered and we've had to bend over backwards for him. It was always ducks or camping by his rules and a bunch of other stuff... I'm sorry, but I don't want to take care of him just because of a biological connection."

"Jimmy, he's your father. He cares about you."

"Yeah, right."

"He deserved to know what you're doing. The least you can do is say goodbye."

Jimmy sat there already having made up his mind. "I'll think about it." He lied.

* * *

Jimmy took the elevator down to the lab. It had recently been installed in place of the entry tube. It was fun to have in the old days, but the elevator was much more practical when it came to moving equipment in and out of the lab. He grabbed his clipboard when he reached the bottom.

He walked passed the hangar and into the newly modified lab. The doors had changed. As a matter of fan the entire interior was remodeled. Everything still in the same place but the surroundings of the lab were covered in metal plating. It no longer appeared like a subterranean space. There were also two large chairs in front of the computer monitor with a wheel from a jet on the left side.

The air vent on the ground was open. "Jerry!" Jimmy called out. "You finished with the thrusters?"

He went over to his monitor and opened up Google. There was still no reply. He turned his head and looked at the vent. "JERRY!"

A bang was heard, most likely from a dropped wrench. "OW!" He heard echoing from the vent. "SON OF A BITCH!"

Jimmy laughed. The constant outbursts never got old.

Jerry came out of the vent confidently but also upset. No longer did he sit around looking cute. His scars and deformed head made him look like the mouse you would not want to fuck with. "What is it?" He demanded.

Jimmy turned his chair to face him. "Are the thrusters done yet?"

"No, 'the thrusters aren't done yet.'" Jerry mocked.

"It was supposed to be done this morning. What the hell are you playing with in there?"

"I'm setting up my own entertainment system."

Jimmy stared him down. "Are you kidding me? Jerry, we need them to-"

"We need them to blah blah blah. I know. You've told me a billion times. You know something… I've been slaving away every day getting this done while you go out there with your girlfriend." Jerry began to raise his voice, going over the top. "The least I can get is my own time to put together MY OWN GODDAMN ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM FOR WHEN I'M BORED!"

"Calm down."

"Calm down?" Jerry laughed maniacally. "Calm down? Really, oh that's what you want me to do? Calm down? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was-… I HAVEN'T SEEN DAYLIGHT IN MONTHS JUST SO WE CAN GO ON YOUR STUPID TRIP! THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS BE GRATEFUL AND LET ME SPEND MY OWN TIME SETTING UP MY OWN SYSTEM SO I DON'T LOSE MY MIND!"

Jimmy held a straight face. These meltdowns were routine at this point. Hardly worth taking seriously. "You know you're free to do go outside if you want, right? Go get some sun."

Jerry readjusted his composure. "No thank you. I don't like it outside." He scratched his neck. "People are scary."

Jimmy shook his head and turned back to the monitor. "Just get the thrusters over and done with. It's your last job." He looked at the screen. It was opened on old files, these ones detailing "The Island." "And stop looking through all my stuff without permission."

"Well I get bored. There's nothing to do down here."

Jimmy turned back annoyed. "Just finish the thrusters."

"Hey kid, we have four days left till we're going. Why don't we just hang back and relax a little. You've worked hard. You earned it. I earned it even more."

"We still need to put in the RTG. I actually want to do that in an hour so it's over and done with. That could kill us if we screw that up."

"Fine. But I don't see why I need to get the thrusters done with right away."

"You still need more time in the flight simulator,"

"No I don't. I know how to fly."

"You don't know how to land."

"I can so."

Jimmy spun the chair around and looked down at the mouse dead in the eye. "The last time you landed it you thought it would be a good idea to crash the ship at top speed into a parking structure."

"Exactly. I landed it. No damage to the ship and I gave that city an excuse to remodel that parking structure."

"You don't crash into things at top speed and call it landing."

"If I parked it safely it would've fallen down anyway from poor foundations."

"Pff." Jimmy spun back around.

"Hey, relax kid. It's a simulator."

"Just get the thrusters done or I won't pack any Gouda Feta cheese for when we leave."

"Oh, hell no. That's going too far."

"Try me." Jimmy said typing on his keyboard, his back remained turned to Jerry.

Jerry looked down and fidgeted with his hands. "Ugh, fine. You better bring them."

"Finish the thrusters." Jimmy said in a friendly, playful banter way.

"I'm on it. I'm on it." Jerry walked out towards the vent. "Ungrateful two-eye troll tail."

"I heard that." Jerry stopped at the sound of it. He shrugged his shoulders and moved on.

"Why did I give that rodent a voice?" He muttered to himself.

"I heard that." Jerry fired back.

Jimmy chuckled. That was their relationship. Constant back and forth banter. Giving Jerry a voice revealed that the experimented mouse became a sarcastic, whiny little guy that just wouldn't stop talking. But they worked well together and Jimmy felt he could trust him. He wasn't sure of how serious Jerry was 90% of the time, but he felt the banter was mostly for fun. He had to look at it that way otherwise he'd lose his mind.

Jimmy looked up "ants" on the Google news tab. He had done so almost every day. He wanted to be sure it was over. The last thing he wanted to come back to was a world destroyed from his own creation. It would've made what he was doing a selfish, cowardly act if he didn't take care of everything appropriately.

"Stop doing that to yourself, kid." Jimmy turned around to find Jerry standing right at the vent before going inside. "We got four days till we bail this rock. Nothing's happened. No reason to obsess over it now." He turned around and went into the vent. "You should let it go." Jerry's voice echoed around the vents in the lab.

Jimmy sat there pondering on it.

* * *

"Careful." Jimmy said calmly.

"Me? Careful? How about you don't squish me." Jerry fired back.

Jimmy was in a radiation suit. Jerry wore his new, more flexible mech suit. They stood in between the edge of the lab. Jimmy had his feet securely planted so he wouldn't fall through the cracks while Jerry was inside it installing the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.

"You almost got it in. Slide it in carefully." Jerry guided him.

Jimmy couldn't see at all. He held the RTG as steady as he could. If he mishandled it they could die on the spot. All he could do was listen to Jerry's direction.

"Closer." Jimmy continued to push it in. "Closer." He kept going. His arm then slipped.

"WOAH!" Jerry screamed. Jimmy got a hold of it again. "CAREFUL! YOU ALMOST CRUSHED ME!"

"My arm slipped! This thing is getting heavy!"

"Just hold it still! You're almost there!" Jimmy shifted his body slightly to get in a comfortable position. "Turn it a little to the right." Jimmy did as instructed. "WOAH! WOAH! STOP! STOP! STOP!" Jimmy froze. "Hahaha. Sorry. I meant my right. Haha, that almost ended badly"

"Are you kidding me? Be careful!"

"It's fine. No radioactive explosion that would've killed everyone in your neighborhood. Don't worry about it."

"RTG's don't explode."

"I know. That's why I said don't worry about it you moron."

"Would you hurry up!"

"Turn it to the left, genius." Jimmy did as instructed. "Okay, stop. Now lift it up and push it gently to your right. You should feel it slip it and lock in place."

Jimmy could feel sweat running down his forehead. He carefully maneuvered the RTG in place until it finally locked on. He breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing he had been holding his breathe the whole time.

"Okay, now don't let go!" Jerry quickly instructed. "Just hold it in place while I screw it in."

"Okay." Jimmy said still breathing heavily.

He stands as still as he can, listening to Jerry working with nuts and bolts. The mouse then began to whistle the tune from "The Bridge on the River Kwai."

"Do you have to do that?" Jimmy asked annoyed.

"What's the matter?"

"You're working with a powerful cancer causing agent. I'd feel safer if your were focused on not letting any particles escape that could kill us before we have the chance to leave."

"I'm whistling so that I don't crack under pressure."

"Just focus on the RTG?"

"Fine, no whistling."

"Thank you." Jimmy was grateful. Aside from the metallic taps it made him feel more comfortable despite standing in an uncomfortable spot.

"So… have you said goodbye to anybody yet?" Jerry started. Jimmy shut his eyes hard and rocked his head back a bit, opening his mouth silently screaming. Of course it was impossible for this mouse to keep quiet.

"Jerry! THE RTG! FOCUS! PLEASE!"

"I need a distraction here to keep me from freaking out. So… what have you been up to?" He asked casually.

He tensed up struggling to keep his stance. "JERRY!"

"Hey kid, I'm going to be stuck spending my time with you. We have to talk at some point."

"Fine. What do you want to talk about?" Jimmy asked frustrated.

"I don't know." Jerry replied as calmly and casually as possible as if he were unaware of how serious the object he was working on was. "Did you say goodbye to your girlfriend yet?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Jimmy said defensively.

"Well that's a bummer, kid. She certainly wants to be."

Jimmy raised his voice. "What the hell do you know about my life?"

"Hey, hey. We're under a lot of pressure here. Let's not get agitated." He sarcastically said calmly and professionally.

Jimmy did his best to contain his temper with a grimace. He could hear Jerry laughing to himself. "So I guess you haven't told her yet?" The mouse asked.

"I'm will tonight."

"Woah. Big mistake, pal."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" He asked with no seriousness whatsoever.

"Common sense, idiot. You tell her that you've spent the past three months building a ship so you could leave the planet and you tell her you're leaving in less than a week well then she''ll go 'Oh, why didn't you tell me.'" Jerry said in an overdramatic, whiny female impression. "And then you'll go 'Because I didn't know how.'" He said now doing a horrible impression of Jimmy. "And she'll say 'WAH! You just want to get away from me, don't you?' and then you go 'No lovely. I care deeply about you but I can never be with you because I'm troubled.' And then she slaps you and goes 'Never talk to me again. I don't care how sorry you are. Never talk to me unless I'm kidnapped and need to be saved.'" He closed doing a terrible impression of a crying female.

"You really watch too much TV."

"Well what do you expect, kid. I only have that I'm bored. And when I'm not working I have to talk to the most idiotic straight-toothed life form on the planet."

"Come on, I'm not that bad."

"I dream of giving you rabies in your sleep." Jerry delivers deadpan. Jimmy laughs. "The point is you've waited too long to tell this girl. She's going to hate you no matter what at this point."

"And how do you know that?"

The metallic tap sounds stop as Jerry thinks of a response. "Because I watch TV." He continues to work.

"Okay... So what in your expert opinion should I do?"

"That's easy. Just leave. That way you don't have to deal with the heartbreak of her yelling at you."

"Well I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because only assholes do that."

Jerry laughs. "You already are one, kid."

"Stop calling me kid. And quit acting like your older than me."

"I am older than you, skin face."

"You're only 5 months old."

"Exactly, which in mouse years put me around 25 so I'm three years more mature than you. And with all that crap you shot in me I'm going to live a lot longer than that."

Suddenly the alarm goes off for the door to the clubhouse.

"Do I need both hands on this thing?" Jimmy asks.

"You can let one of them go. Just don't shake it." Jerry answers.

Jimmy takes his left hand and holds the wrist up close to his mouth. "Voice Activate entrance speaker." He spoke into it. His watch was on underneath his radiation suit. It beeped back. "Hello." He spoke into his hand.

"Neutron?" Cindy asked from the other line.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Have you lost your phone or something? I've tried calling you?"

"Um…" Jimmy looked around thinking of how to describe his present situation. "I'm a little crammed in at the moment. What's up?"

"Are we going out tonight?"

"Yeah, why? What time is it?"

"It's 7 o'clock."

"Oh… um…" Jimmy put his hand down and leaned in closer to Jerry. "Are you almost done?"

"Just one more bolt to secure and we're set, kid."

Jimmy leaned back up and brought his hand back. "Just wait. I'll be out in 5 minutes."

* * *

_Le Mal Temps, _one of the higher end restaurants in Retroville.

A popular place where a reservation wasn't always necessary but was better to be safe than sorry. The tables and chairs all evoking an Ikea aesthetic. The bar with nice, cushioned seats with TVs displaying sports games at the highest resolution possible. It wasn't too fancy but was nice enough that people came in wearing attire that fit in between casual and formal.

Jimmy Neutron and Cindy Vortex sat at a table ready to toast. They had each ordered Purple Flurp, a habit they had both become accustomed to in the past few months. It was now more or less their thing whenever they went out together, rebelling against the stresses of adulthood together in their own way.

Cindy raised her glass for a toast. "Here's to the success of James Isaac Neutron." Their glasses clink together. "It's about time you got off your butt and did something with yourself."

"Thank you." He said modestly. They both took a sip from their Flurp and set their glasses back on the table.

"God," Cindy smiled after having a thought. "Things are going to be really different for you."

"You have no idea." He answered indirectly.

"I really am proud of you. It's crazy to think you've had this great invention the whole time and now everyone else can easily travel around the rest of the world like we have. You really changed the world."

"Making a flying death trap available to the entire Earth?" Jimmy responded sarcastically then frowned. "I hope you're right. I hope not to many people hurt themselves when they fly."

Something was bothering him. That much was clear to her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"

"You just…" She shrugged her shoulders. "We're here celebrating the official start of your business and you're already predicting death statistics."

"It's air travel, Cindy. You do the math and someone's eventually going to get hurt."

"Okay?… That is logical to assume so, yes. But why do you have to bring it up? Is everything okay."

Jimmy looks down at the table where his finger is fiddling with his napkin. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind." He admitted.

"Is it Sheen?" She got his attention as he looked up and made immediate eye contact. "Jimmy, he's going to be fine. He's in better care. You should see him. He's lost an unbelievable amount of weight. He's going to be shocked by that when he wakes up-"

Jimmy interrupts. "It's not Sheen. I'm worried- Of course I'm worried about him. But that's not why."

"Is it the money?"

"What?"

Cindy smiles. "It's getting to you, isn't it?"

"What? What is?" He asked genuinely confused.

"You're worried that being rich is going to change you."

"Oh." Jimmy laughs. "No… No, no, no. Not at all."

"I don't know. You've been awful careless with your first million. Booking expensive hotel rooms and taking us out to the fanciest restaurants."

"This is hardly fancy."

"Yeah, it's Retroville. But Tokyo? Paris? Brazil? You didn't think those places were fancy?"

"We were out having fun and I could afford it. Why wouldn't I take advantage of that."

"See? It's changed you. You're going to become like all the wealthy people who can never go back to a normal lifestyle. You wouldn't be caught dead walking into a grocery store or a fast food restaurant." She held an all knowing smirk on her face.

Jimmy chuckled trying to hold his smile but it eventually disappeared. "Believe, there's no way that can possibly happen."

"Oh, come on. Admit it, Jimmy. You're getting comfortable."

"No, really I mean it." He said serious.

Cindy took a drink, the glass blocking in the way of Jimmy making her oblivious to his comment. "I can't blame you. And don't start thinking that I'm ungrateful for everything. South by Southwest was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for taking me."

Jimmy laughed. "You don't have to thank me. Watching you take the microphone from that cover band because you thought it was karaoke was fun enough."

"Yeah…" She said, clearly not proud of the memory. "Thanks for letting me do that, by the way." She said sarcastically.

"I was drunk too. Even I thought it was a great idea."

"God, that was so embarrassing."

"Well at least the hotel didn't kick us out."

"Of course they didn't. We were in the penthouse suite."

"Well I thought you sung like an angel… Even if I was too drunk to know the difference."

He held a light smile for her to look at. She didn't smile back right away but it eventually worked on her. She then took a drink from her glass. Jimmy looked back at the table, playing with the napkin using his finger.

"So do you know what you're going to do next?" Cindy asked.

His finger froze. Of course he knew. He had known for a long time. He had been trying to tell her but just couldn't figure out how. He wanted to get it over and done with. This was probably the worst way to tell her by waiting until she had asked that question. Crap! How was he going to tell her without feeling guilty.

He was afraid to look up, but there was no point in stalling any longer. He had to tell her.

"How do you mean?"… Damn it, Jimmy! Why aren't you just telling her!

"You're rich now. You can do anything you want. Live anywhere you want." She leaned close into the table as she set her arms down on it. A subtle smile grew as her eyes looked off in the corner. "Have a fresh start. Maybe get married and start a family."

Jimmy smiled and laughed uncomfortably. "Why would I?" He asked innocently.

He was not receptive in the way she had hoped. Her smile turned into an expression that showed she was being serious.

"Jimmy… Are we ever going to talk about it?"

Red lights flashed in his head. "About what?" He made it a point to appear confused but knew exactly where this was going.

A scoff makes it's way out of Cindy's mouth. Before she was able to raise her voice she looked around, contemplating how to say what was on her mind. "That we're not a couple but we act like we already are."

"What do you mean?" He asked appearing oblivious. But of course he knew what she meant. She could tell he knew what she meant. It was obvious.

"Come on, Jimmy. Don't make me feel like an idiot for asking. You know what I mean."

"Is that we really what you'd call it? I thought we were just being friendly."

"Jimmy, we've been ice skating in Sweden. Stargazing at the top of the Himalayas. Playing quirky games at museums and aquariums in London. We're traveling the world together. Don't you think we're a little past friends?"

"We're really close I admit, but is that really enough to count as being a couple."

"We've been much closer than normal friends would be doing those things."

"How is that?"

"Don't you think it's weird that we've been sharing the same hotel rooms every time we go somewhere?"

"It makes sense. It's cheaper and we don't get lonely."

"We even share the bed, Jimmy. And that one morning when you were talking to my feet before room service brought breakfast you basically gave me a foot massage. I know you were trying to be cute and make me laugh using your chin, but that was a foot massage. And the last thing that casual friends definitely don't do is rent Icelandic porn from the hotel and make jokes by dubbing over the actors lines."

What was there to say. He knew they were getting closer. It wasn't at all what he intended to happen. She had been his only friend for the past 3 months. When he was tired from the stress of working with Nick or Jerry he would take comfort in spending time with her. As soon as he got his first check that was when he suggested they visit places for fun. And then it all progressed from there. Whenever they weren't working they only had each other to hang out with. But now it was getting too comfortable to keep going without putting a label on what they were.

Jimmy sighed a deep breathe. This was drama he definitely didn't need to start. After all the rough things they went through at the end of last year they were finally able to enjoy themselves again. And here he sat knowing he was about to destroy everything good that had happened in the last 3 months.

"Cindy… I-"

She interrupted. "Look Jimmy, I know it sounds weird that I mention you getting married and having kids. I'm not even suggesting that we should do that. I just… I need to be clear on what's happening. It's too weird. I can't keep sneaking into your house when your mom is working the night shift and pretend like it's no big deal. Do you understand?"

Jimmy looked down at the table. Of course he understood. It was getting weird. But it was also really nice. Not nice actually, that wasn't cutting it. It was great. Every time they were together it was great. Now he actually had a reason to stay but… He really wanted to go.

Jimmy took a deep breath, ready to answer her. He raised his head and made eye contact with her. But at the corner of his eye the TV at the bar got his attention. The image was being captured from a helicopter overlooking a huge amount of rubble. His eyes went to the caption in bold black lettering.

BREAKING NEWS

Deadly Nuclear Explosion wipes out LANL

LANL. Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The largest science institution in the country. There it was gone.

The TV in the bar had closed captioning turned on. He read the news report.

_The explosion occurred just 10 minutes ago. As you can see we have to keep our distance as far as we can to avoid being hit by radioactive particles but it looks like the entire institution has been blown to smithereens. Evacuations are underway as experts are still trying to figure out just how far these particles should reach. Military personal is assisting with the evacuation. This is the second nuclear explosion that has taken place in the country this year, the other being in Retroville, a small town in Texas. There an office building…_

"Jimmy?" Cindy tried to get his attention.

Ignoring her, Jimmy quickly pulled out his phone and searched for news on the explosion.

Cindy turned around to see what it was he was looking at. Her face dropped and she knew exactly what was going on.

He skimmed quickly through paragraph after paragraph until one detail caught his eye.

_Two survivors working in the lower levels of the facility were being held by military personnel. No official comment has been made but sources report that they are both in an incredibly delirious state, both babbling about ants._

His eyes widened. He looked up at Cindy. She looked back at him concerned. "What is it?"

He was hoping tonight would be the night where he finally cleared everything up. But there was one more mess he was responsible for and he had to take care of it.

Jimmy got up in a hurry. "We have to go."

* * *

"Oh yeah… Oh baby, tie that tail and wrap it around the wheel… Oh, God I love the way you sniff."

Back in the lab Jerry was sitting in one of the computer chairs. On the screen was youtube video title "Mice having sex." If contained two mice on a wheel doing it in freaky ways. The comments coming from humans all noted how hilarious this was. Of course Jerry, being a mouse, reacted to it differently.

As his moans continued the door opened unexpectedly. "Jerry!" He heard his name called out.

Jerry snapped out of his trance. "Huh. What? Yeah." He quickly jumped on the keyboard and closed the browser. Jimmy popped up behind him. "Hey kid. Um, I was just reading on a-"

"I've seen your browsing history. You should be ashamed of yourself." Jimmy quipped for fun as he jumped onto the keyboard.

"Dick." Jerry muttered under his breathe. The mouse turned around, surprised to see another human down in the lab. It was the first time he saw a different face in months.

Cindy had a similar reaction. First of all, the new look of the lab had gotten her attention. But then she focused back on Jerry. She had never formally met the mouse but had watched him through security footage. But she knew who he was.

"Um…" Jerry broke the ice. "Hello." He waved awkwardly. "I'm sure this is strange to you to find a talking mouse but-"

"You're Jerry." Cindy interrupted.

"Oh… Okay. I guess fudge-face told you about me."

"I'd heard about you. Jimmy didn't tell me you could talk."

"What!" Jerry turned to Jimmy. "You told your girlfriend about me and you forgot to mention I could talk!"

Jimmy responded annoyed. "She's not my girlfriend. And when she knew about you you couldn't talk."

"Well thanks for keeping me in the know you ungrateful tower of rotting bones."

"That doesn't make any sense." Jimmy fired back.

Jerry slowly turned back to Cindy. "You don't make any sense." He quietly muttered.

Cindy caught on to the "girlfriend" remark. It was something she'd definitely have to bring up later. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"What am I doing?" Jerry repeated. He then adjusted his composure and appeared as distinguished as he could. "Well madame, it just so happens I'm going to be kiddo's co-pi-"

"He's my assistant." Jimmy interrupted before the truth slipped out.

Jerry looked at Jimmy confused, but then put two and two together realizing he hadn't told the truth. "Erm… Right, I'm his lab assistant. Being a super intelligent member of the murinae this brilliant bozo was wonderful enough to give me a profession."

Jimmy pulled up a live satellite feed of Los Alamos. The place was obliterated. The monitor showed a scan being performed. It highlighted the spot it was looking and zoomed in up close. The lens change to thermal and revealed a group of ants moving down a hole in order.

"Got them." He turned to Jerry. "We need to move. Jerry, I need you to suit up."

"What's your rush, kid? Something happen?"

Jimmy pointed at the monitor. "Carvey's experiment happened. The ants did react to the serum and they're in New Mexico. I have to stop them before they disappear again."

"Huh." Jerry stood there shocked. He then turned around and crawled away. "Well good luck with that, kid."

"Are you serious?"

"You're damn right, kid. Things are going good for me and I don't want to get myself killed for your stupid mistake. I don't have any stake in you humans." He disappeared into the vent.

Jimmy stood there shocked. "Fine. I'll go myself." He walked away from them both.

Cindy turned around and caught up with him. "I'm coming with you."

"No you're not."

"Jimmy, I am coming with you."

Jimmy stopped and turned around to face Cindy directly. "Cindy, this is going to be dangerous."

"I've been on your adventures before, Neutron. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"This is different. We could die. I'm not going to risk losing you."

"That's not going to happen, Jimmy."

"I mean it! When Carl and I were in that building I was afraid I'd die. We both were. And he was freaked out after that, you saw it. I was lucky I saved him, but if he died I would've never forgiven myself. I can't risk the same with you."

"Well if I let you go on your own and you die I would never be able to live myself knowing that I could help you. You brought me down here and I don't think it was so you could just leave me behind. I'm going, Neutron."

Suddenly the sound of metal touching metal came from the open vent. They both turned as they heard the sound coming closer and closer. Jerry came out of the vent with his mech suit on.

"Screw it. If you two are going to blab back and forth then someone's going to have to make sure you both don't screw this thing up."

Jimmy smiled. "I thought you didn't want to risk getting yourself killed."

"I need the fresh air. May as well save your asses while I'm out there."

Jimmy chuckled. He then looks back up at Cindy, still hesitant. She held a straight face. He took a deep breathe. "We'll get there faster if you drive." Cindy smiled.

"Alright." He began reluctant. "One last adventure. Let's go save the world."


	26. Chapter 26-The Hive

Up above, flying at top speed, the hovercar sailed the skies.

Inside Cindy piloted the vehicle, following the directions given on the GPS.

Jimmy sat in the back monitoring the ants on his window screen via satellite.

Jerry just sat back snacking on cheese.

Goddard was there, staring down at the experimented furry creature. Jerry couldn't stand the starring. "What the hell do you want you box of bolts?" Goddard didn't flinch. Jerry changed his voice. "If ya don't stop gawking at me I'll crawl in ya and tear up yer insides." Goddard whined and laid down on the ground. "Coward."

"Here they are." Jimmy zoomed in on the satellite feed. Lubbock, Texas. That's where the ants were going. It wasn't too far from Retroville. On the monitor there were little yellow specks moving underground. Jimmy magnified it closer. "There's the hive."

"So nuke 'em and be done with it." Jerry suggested.

Jimmy zoomed in at the line. "See that?" He pointed at the pencil lined gap with tinier yellow specks around it. "They're carrying something. I don't want to cause another nuclear explosion happening in a populated area."

"Jesh. You're no fun." Jerry threw a block of cheese in the air and caught it in his mouth.

"So what's the plan?" Cindy asked.

"We need to know what they're up to." Jimmy turns to Jerry. "One of us has to go down there and find out."

Jerry continues to nibble on his cheese. "Well let let know what you find."

Jimmy crosses his arms and frowns. It is quiet, the only sound coming from the car being Jerry's chewing.

The quiet dawns on Jerry as he stops. He looks over to Jimmy, a smirk growing on his face.

"Oh no." Jerry objects.

"You're the only one that can do it."

"No way, kid. I'm not going near a bunch of homicidal ants. I've got three days left on this rock and I ain't about to waste 'em."

"They are a group of homicidal ants trying to kill humans. Cindy and I, we're human. That and your size is advantageous to us."

"Are you kidding me! Look at how big I am compared to an ant! They'll take me down first chance they get." Jerry turns his back to Jimmy. "There's no way I'll be able to sneak in unnoticed. No way." Jimmy reached under his seat to grab something. "Listen, if I was small enough to sneak in I would, but there's no way I can so you'll just have to find another way-"

ZAP!

Jimmy held the shrink ray in his hand, hitting Jerry. Jerry turns back at Jimmy, noting his new size. The mouse starts yelling back but all Jimmy hears is squeaky jiberish.

"Oh, calm down." Jimmy responded annoyed. "Your suit has shrink and growth abilities."

"The drop's coming up." Cindy notified.

Jerry continued ranting but it was high pitched and unintelligible.

"Put on your headset." Jimmy instructed.

The mouse tuned in to the proper channel. "I'll get you back for this." Jerry said begrudgingly. He turned around and went up to the window. Jimmy lowered it a crack. It sucked Jerry through and he was out.

"WOAH!" The mouse screamed. "A LITTLE WARNING NEXT TIME! IT'S WINDY OUT HERE!"

"Sorry." Jimmy laughed over the radio.

"No you're not, play-dough brain."

Jerry continued to flail around in the air. The winds were harsher, given his now even smaller size. He had the benefit of sneaking in on the enemy, but in the air he was even more out of control than before, literally being as light as a feather. Fortunately the mech suit gave him just enough weight to fall down. He made it through the clouds.

"I see the ground." Jerry slipped on his night vision goggles that came with the suit. "Send me the target."

"You should be getting it now."

A green circle flashed ahead. "Ugh" Jerry groaned. It was a long distance away. He extended out his paws as best he could. His anatomy wasn't being too supportive, but he managed to fly towards his landing point.

He made it to his target and deployed his parachute within 25 feet. Two ants were guarding the entrance into the hive. He was fortunate they couldn't see him. The night was in his favor.

Jerry landed safely, quickly wrapping up his chute and stuffing it in the ground. "Touchdown." He whispered into the headset.

He made his way over to the entrance, quietly crawling on all fours.

The two guards were in the middle of a discussion. One of them laying back on the ground and the other one walking back and forth in the middle of a rant. "I just don't understand why we never get to do any of the important stuff." One ant complained. "It's always the same thing. 'Stand outside and guard the entrance, Danny. We need you, Danny. The hive wouldn't be safe without you, Danny.'"

"I don't mind being out here." The other ant said. "We don't have to do anything and the food they give us is incredible. The rest of the workers have it rough, going out there, risking blowing themselves up just to kill giants. You should be happy."

"I don't even know why we have to guard this spot anyway. We're microscopic in size. Who's going to come and try to stop us."

"You're over thinking this, Danny."

"And even if someone did come by then what are we supposed to do? We can't fight back alone. Are we supposed to run inside and tell everybody someone's coming? Wouldn't that cause panic?"

The other ant stood up from the ground. "Danny, Danny, Danny. Look." The ant put an arm around the other's back. "Stop thinking so much. There's no point in doing this job. No one is coming to hurt them hive. The only reason we're here is so everyone inside feels safe. You don't have anything to worry about, bud."

Jerry accidently snickered from behind them.

"What was that?" Danny freaked out.

"Stop worrying. If you keep bothering me I'm going to ask for a transfer."

"No, really! I just saw something over there." Danny pointed to the mound.

"Ugh." Jerry groaned. "Screw it. I don't have all night."

Jerry stands up from behind the mound with the smiling face of a salesman. "Hey fellas! How's it going? Beautiful night out tonight isn't it."

"AHH!" Danny jumps and screams. "You-you-uh-"

"That's right." Jerry continued. "I'm here to make you boys an offer." Jerry showed his front right paw on his suit. The palm had a button emerge from it.

The other ant looked at Jerry in awe. "Are you the great evader?"

"Um… Sure, why not. Let me show you what this baby can do to your enemies." Jerry leaned up against Danny. "But first I don't do business with anyone unless I shake hands with them first."

Danny hesitated but he grabbed the hand. As he did his entire body was surrounded by frozen solid ice.

* * *

"Jerry. Come in, Jerry. Are you clear to enter?"

"Um." Jimmy could hear a voice crying on the other line. "Give me one second." Screams and pleas of mercy were heard on the other end as Jerry whistled. Jimmy could here the freeze device working. "Yeah, I'm going in."

"Perfect. Let us know if you find anything."

Jimmy takes a deep sigh and relaxes back in his seat.

"So we're just supposed to wait?" Cindy asked up front.

"There's nothing we can do until we find out what's going on." Jimmy answered.

"Hm." Silence passed. All there was for her to do was circle around in the air. Jimmy just sat back waiting. She was getting bored and needed to clear out some things on her mind. "So are we ever going to talk about it?"

Jimmy turned to her surprised. "Really? You're asking me that now?"

"We're not doing anything right now? It's the perfect time to talk about it."

Jimmy groaned. "Okay." He sat up and looked directly at her. "I agree, we're going to have to talk about it no matter what. I just don't want to worry about it right now while we're worrying about this at the same time. Is that okay?"

Cindy looked back at him with a emotionless face. "Yeah, that's fine. She turned back and focused on driving.

"Thank you." Jimmy reclined back in his chair.

Cindy's emotionless face shifted to one of disappointment.

* * *

Jerry had been running down the tunnels of the ant hive. They went on for long stretches and surprisingly there wasn't anyone in them. All he could see through his goggles was one massive yellow speck further down below. It must've been some sort of gathering. Sure enough as he got closer to it her heard the murmurs of a crowd.

He followed the sound. It brought him to a circular ramp. The architecture of the hive seemed to become more sophisticated at this point.

Down at the end of the ramp there was an entry way where the murmurs were coming from. A bunch of specks of yellow were in there.

Not wasting time, Jerry jumped from the top and approached the entry way with caution. There wasn't a single yellow speck near him.

He went through the entry way.

"Jerry." Jimmy came in on the radio. "Be careful. I'm seeing a lot of yellow dots in your way."

"I know." Jerry whispered. "It looks like a meeting. I'm going in."

"Plant a mic in there for me." Jimmy requested.

Jerry switched his suit into stealth mode as he entered to ampitheater. Inside a bunch of ants were sitting, talking amongst themselves. It was the biggest crowd he had ever seen. There must've been 3 million in attendance.

"Woah." Jerry said to himself.

Suddenly the murmurs turned into full blown cheers. Jerry looked down to the stage. The queen has arrived.

"I'm still not getting that audio feed." Jimmy complained.

Jerry snapped from awed to annoyed. "Alright, alright." He took a pebble from his suit and threw it up in the air to stick to the ceiling. "Jeesh, what a whiner." He said to himself.

The crowd continued to cheer until the queen raised her hands. Instantly they became silent.

"Giants." She began. "For years they have lived out there among us… For years we have remained down here hidden from them… Because for years they have repeatedly stepped on us."

The crowd booed.

"I hope they're booing at the horrid speech." Jerry complained. "This broad sucks."

"Shh." He heard Jimmy go over the headset.

"YOU shh." Jerry fired back.

The crowd went silent again.

"Our finest warriors have gone out there to bring food for the colony and never return, all because a giant ended their lives." The crowd booed. The queen let them have it until they stopped for her to speak again. "The giants took us away from our home and brought us into their world. My friends, we all remember what it was like. We all remember the fear that we would never leave." Jerry had been mockingly imitating her by puppeting his paw while she talked. "But then the day came when the Great Evader showed us the way." That stopped him. He'd heard the term used before. "The Great Evader showed us that escape was possible. That these giants could be defeated. I saw it. You all saw it. But none of us were as brave or intelligent as the Great Evader."

"Damn right." Jerry said to himself.

Murmurs went around the crowd that seemed saddened. "BUT THEN THE RAINS CAME!" Her tone made them all jump awake. "THE RAINS CAME, MY FRIENDS! The rains came and we all knew we could escape! AND WE DID!"

The crowd cheered uproariously. The queen turned around and made a signal.

"Okay, she's having something brought out to the stage." Jerry informed. "It's got a tarp over it."

"But that's not all, my friends." The queen continued. "We also learned how to step back on the giants!" The crowd cheered. "But that isn't all!" She yelled back. The crowd quieted down. "That isn't all… Now we can do it to all the giants!" She had her bodyguards remove the tarp. A bunch of liquid spheres piled up. "WE WILL STEP BACK ON THEM WITH THEIR WEAPONS AND DESTROY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!" The crowd cheered back uproariously.

"Jeesh. Even on TV they don't make a speech this bad." Jerry sarcastically complained.

"What's under the tarp?" Jimmy asked frustrated.

"Hey, I'm working. I'm working." Jerry zoomed his goggles analyzing the sphere's. "Scanning. Scanning." It beeped. "Ohp, there we go. It's…" Jerry froze. "Oh shit."

"What? What is it?" Jimmy asked.

"Um… Do not drop a bomb down here."

"What is it?" Jimmy asked again.

Jerry sighed. "It's VX gas."

The was silence for a second until Jimmy answered. "Oh man."

"You heard her speech, right?"

"They're going to kill everybody with that."

Jerry watched the queen leave the stage along with her bodyguards. The lights were dimmed. The sphere's were left unattended.

"I have an idea. Can you bring the hovercar down here?"

"What's your plan?"

"It doesn't look like they're moving the balls. If you can sneak the hovercar down here we can shrink them and get them out safely."

"And what about the ants?"

"We can drop a few fire crackers once the gas is gone and call it a day."

"It's way too risky with that gas."

"Well do you have a better idea?"

Jerry waited for an answer on the other line he heard a deep sigh. "No."

"Alright… Well now that we settled that get your butts down here."

Jerry switched off his head set. He turned around to exit, but 3 tall ants stopped him. They each crossed four of their arms, looking down at him in an intimidating stance. "Hehe. Hiya fellas." Jerry waved trying to appear as friendly and harmless as possible..

* * *

Jimmy quickly got up from his seat in the back. "Cindy, move over."

Cindy turned her head towards him. "What's going on?" She asked.

"We're flying the hovercar into the hive. I need to take over."

"You don't think I can handle it-" She said jokingly offended.

Jimmy quickly interjected. "It's not that I doubt your flying abilities. You're doing great. But you're not prepared to handle the wind resistance you'll get from flying in shrink mode. Trust me. So please, move over."

She couldn't argue with that. She got out of the seat, but she wasn't happy about it. She moved to the passenger seat while Jimmy strapped himself in.

Jimmy reached over into the glove box and pulled out a barf bag. "You might want this open. Just in case."

"What for?" She asked. "I've been in this car a thousand times."

"Making a shrink jump for the first time could make you feel… funny."

"Fuuny how?"

Jimmy turned back to her, thinking of the simplest explanation. "I'm just saying you should be prepared incase you throw up." He turned back, faced the wheel, and made sure his bearings were correct. "You might want to hold on to something."

She watched him at work, quickly hitting a bunch of buttons. Hanging on seemed like a good idea. She lightly gripped the handle above the window.

Jimmy grabbed the steering wheel. He took a deep breathe. "Alright. Hold on."

A sonic BOOM hit as the hovercar went from 0 to 300 mph. Now she really grabbed onto the handle tight. Jimmy pushed the steering wheel forward slightly, causing them to move down. And the car kept leaning, and leaning, and leaning until it's nose was facing straight down as they went through the clouds. It was a bumpy ride .With a quick flash the clouds went away, the town lights being clear. A grid appeared on the windshield, circling Jimmy's target in green. He lightly pulled the car up until it was directly in line with the target. He flew steady in the air. "Alright, this is going to be fast. Hold on real tight." Before she even had a chance the car BOOMED forward even harsher than before. Before she even knew it the target was approaching. Jimmy hit a button on the steering wheel. Flashes of light zapped across the windshield until they all crossed and opened up one massive sphere. It went all around the hovercar. Cindy felt a funny, like her outsides and insides warped out of place. That feeling passed away after a few seconds. The flashes ceased. Right away she had to throw up. She grabbed the bad and went at it. Jimmy looked briefly knowing it would happen. He didn't judge. He reduced speed. The car went straight into the entrance of the hive. They were inside. Once he made it to the long corridor he came to a halt. Not an insect in sight.

Jimmy set the car down and unbuckled his seat belt. "Stay here." He stepped outside before she even had the chance to ask a question. She needed to puke again.

Jimmy pointed a ray gun down one end of the corridor. It fired out a blue beam which left traces of blue dust. Every entry way it went past another beam split from it leaving dust behind that one. He fired another shot the other direction before getting back into the car.

"What was that?" Cindy asked.

"Trackers. They leave tiny nanobots in the air so they're invisible. Works for an hour until the bots die out." Jimmy started the car and lifted it slightly off the ground. He switched to stealth mode, making the exterior invisible.

* * *

The ants were whacking Jerry with twigs, which given their small size pretty much made them sticks in this case.

"What're you doing here?" One of them asked.

"I just moved into that tree nearby. Wanted to get a look at the neighborhood." Jerry answered sarcastically.

WHACK!

Another ant picked Jerry up. "What're you planning to do to us?"

"Ah." Jerry breathed, exhausted from getting beaten. "I was planning on inviting you to dinner. The missus found one hell of a bag of Cheetos you'd all enjoy." DOUBLE WHACK! "I think we even have the flamin hot kind if you want them."

One of the ants is about to strike when suddenly.

"STOP!"

The ants turned around. It was the queen. They immediately bowed at her presence.

"What is this?" The queen asked.

"An intruder, your majesty. We found it sneaking around during your speech. It was planning on taking our weapon against the giants."

"Really?" The queen looked at Jerry. He was on the ground breathing heavily. "Bring him to me."The ants lifted Jerry off the ground and help him before the queen. She closely studied his face. Her eyes widened. "Fools, do you know who this is?" They all look at each other confused. "Someone bring the Great Evader something to drink. Hurry!"

_The Great Evader? Oh boy, this'll be fun!_ Jerry thought.

* * *

They quietly flew their way above the ant crowds over to the amphitheater. As he carefully steered the vehicle towards the green dot on the window he took a few seconds to think things over. It was quiet, yet they had so much they needed to talk about. He knew that. He was sure she was thinking the same right now. He felt like a jerk not saying anything, but he didn't want to risk alerting their presence to the ants because of their yelling. All he could do was appreciate that she was there. I mean, she was there. For God sakes she was in the car! She came when she didn't have to. It's possible they may not make it out alive and she came anyway knowing that. He was critical of her choice, but grateful regardless.

The hover car landed on the stage, large crates full of VX filled glass balls right in front of them. Jimmy made a quick u turn, positioning the back of the car to the crates.

The car remained in stealth mode.

Outside of the stage there were still ants walking around the area. It wasn't a lot, but still it was enough that their presence would be known around the hive rather quickly.

On the monitor where the radio would normally be Jimmy watched the trackers near the end of their run.

Scan complete. VX gas found in one location.

Jimmy sighed in relief. "It's all here."

"They're still out there. What do we do?" Cindy whispered hastily.

Jimmy grabbed the shrink ray from his armrest. "I'm going to shrink those boxes. You go out there and run to get them."

She looked at him surprised. "Are you kidding me?"

"You're the fastest one of the two of us. It has to be you. Besides it's not that difficult a job."

"Not difficult?" Cindy pointed out the window. "They're going to see me."

"Yeah, but they won't have time to do anything about it. We're going to have to get out of here quick."

"And what about the ants?"

"We nuke 'em."

"And Jerry?"

"Oh, right." Jimmy grabbed his phone. "Jerry, come in."

"Right here, kid." Jerry said over the line quite calm.

"I finished the scan. All the gas is on the stage. We're right in front of it. Where are you?"

"I'm right behind you." He said still calm.

Jimmy looked around. He saw nothing. "Where?"

Jerry sighed. "Behind the boxes."

"Okay, I'm about to shrink them down. When I do you run into the hovercar. You and Cindy pick up as many boxes as you can-"

"Yeah, yeah." Jerry interrupted. "Just hurry up. I wanna get this done with."

He put his phone down and looked to Cindy. "Okay, you ready?"

"What's he doing?" She asked.

Jimmy pointed to the crates. "He's back there. You're both going to grab everything you can and throw it into the back."

He set the shrink ray to the proper setting. There it was in his hands. In front of him was around 30-40 ants. Very soon they would be aware of his presence. After that the entire colony would know moments later. They had to act fast. He took a deep breathe.

"Are you ready?" He asked her.

She was just as scared as he was. There they were vastly outnumbered. They were going to give themselves away. They were now small enough to be stepped on which meant if they got in trouble and were separated there'd be no place to hide. On top of that they were about to steal the most deadly chemical substance on the planet, put it in the hover car without breaking anything, and hope that they don't mess up. If they did they would be dead within seconds from the gas alone. If they didn't move fast enough they would be seized by the colony.

Cindy had thought it over for a short while until she nodded. They were in this situation. This was the best shot they had at getting out of it.

"Okay." Jimmy put his hand on the handle. "On three?"

Cindy did the same. She nodded back. "Ready."

"Okay… one…. two…. THREE"

They bolted out of the hovercar. Cindy began sprinting. Jimmy aimed the ray. The ants saw them. The ray was fired. The crates shrunk. All of it happened in the blink of an eye.

Jimmy froze. Cindy stopped, dead in her tracks. Jerry was indeed behind the crates but he wasn't moving. He didn't run. He just stood there casually.

It wasn't the fact that he didn't move that surprised them. It was who he was standing with.

The queen stood right beside Jerry. A bunch of bodyguards with them as well. The humans were completely surrounded "Hm, impressive Great Evader. They came here just as you foretold."

"But your majesty." One of the big ants spoke. "We found him talking-"

"Silence." The queen demanded.

Jerry yawned. He turned around and started to walk away. "Well I'm going to get a drink."

The queen looked back at him surprised. "But… You don't wish to eliminate them?"

Jerry stopped. "Ohhhh." He groaned. "Just knock them out and tie them up. I'll tell you what to do in a bit." Jerry patted her on the back and left the stage.

Cindy slowly backed away, trying to get back into the hovercar. Jimmy stood firm but still shocked at being double crossed.

"Get them." The queen ordered directly.

The bodyguards stepped in unison. The approached quickly. In a panic Jimmy lifted his shrinkray. He fired at each ant one by one. But there were too many.

* * *

His eyes slowly opened. He was groggy. The ground wasn't steady. He laid there unable to get up. Feeling came back to his arms and legs. They were tied up. There was slight shake. Turbulence. He was in the hovercar. He flailed around, reaching for his wrist. As he did he came into contact with another body. It had to be Cindy. He kept trying to reach his wrist. The watch was still there.

"HEY!" A deep voice shouted from behind. "This one's awake!"

A strange arm lifted up Jimmy. He quickly concealed to watch with his sleeve.

In front of him he saw two ants in the front of the hovercar, one of them driving, the other navigating. One sat at the computer. Jerry and the Queen stood in the middle. In the corner was a metal box. Goddard was turned off.

The queen was delighted to see Jimmy. "Ah, perfect. Bring it here."

The bodyguard pushed him forward and brought him down on his knees before the queen.

In her middle hands she held a unique pair of glasses. "The Great Evader tells me we need a retinae scan to access your computer." She brought the glasses closer to his head.

"Ha!" Jimmy laughed. "That's not going to work." He proudly declared.

Behind him he heard the click of a button. The bodyguard lifted up a recording device. He tossed it over to Jerry.

"No I know that won't work, kid. But you see…" He plugged the device into the computer. "If I just put this thing in here…" He held up a mic. "And I say 'VOX, open all invention documents.'" He spoke in Jimmy's voice when holding the mic. He walked up to Jimmy. "And then VOX will say something like-"

DNA sample required.

"Ah, right. I was getting ahead of myself… So then that means I need to get…" He placed his paws on Jimmy's head and tore off a strand of hair. "And then I just hold it up to here…" A scanner next to the monitor looks at the strand. "And then she finally goes-"

DNA match confirmed. Welcome Jimmy.

Jerry carelessly threw the strand on the ground. "And that's that." He looked away from the once boy genius and took a seat.

"Is that it?" The queen asked.

"Uh… yeah, I don't think I need to deal with carbon turd."

"Very well. How do you wish to terminate them?" The queen asked.

Jerry sat back, looking at the computer monitor, carefully thinking it over. "Eh." He shrugged his shoulders. "Just toss them out here. There's no point in overthinking it."

"Very well." The queen pointed outside for the bodyguard.

With two upper arms he grabbed Jimmy and walked to the back.

Jimmy could see Cindy was waking up. He eye's were slowly lifting. The bodyguard suddenly grabbed her with one arm. She yelped.

With his free upperhand the ant opened the trunk. Harsh winds flew in. They were high above ground. Jimmy could see they were above the clouds. A deep knot twisted in his stomach.

Without delay the ant hurled Cindy out the door first. Jimmy instantly followed suite.

Wind hit them at full force. He could hear her struggling. She was likely in shock having just awoken to falling from the sky. It was all happening so fast. He watched her continue to flail and fall as she disappeared into the cloud below them.

The sensation of falling was too distracting. He closed his eyes just before going into the cloud. He steadied his breathing. His hand hastily went up his wrist. It was easier to grab his watch since the rope was loosened from the first try. But he had to be careful. He couldn't push the buttons so fast for he could accidentally activate the wrong utility.

Jimmy took his time to concentrate. He didn't dare open his eyes. He couldn't let the pressure of how close the bottom was get to him. The button was ready, but the watch needed to be positioned correctly. His wrist couldn't turn far enough. If he activated it this way he would risk hitting himself with the laser.

The watch had to come off. But he had to be careful. He couldn't lose it up here. It was dark enough that he would never be able to see it if he tried. Besides gravity would make it impossible as the distance between them as they fell would expand. He had only one shot at this. All his attention was placed on his hand. Touch was the only sense he could focus on. His hand slowly undid the watch. His pinky and ring finger held onto the strand for safety as his other three fingers did the work. He carefully undid the watch.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew and his three fingers lost touch. Only his pinky and ring finger were securing it. But they were slipping. The wind was too strong. Jimmy tried jerking his fingers together to ease their way toward the center. It wasn't working. It just slipped more and more. He was holding it on it's last leg. It was about to slip away for good.

The fingers squeezed together as hard as they could. He wouldn't give up willingly. It couldn't end just like this. The weight of the watch was doing everything it could to pull away. One more tug and it would be gone.

The wind miraculously blew the over into his free open hand. He felt it land there. Right away he closed his fist tight. He took a quick deep breathe but it wasn't over. They were close to the bottom and he still didn't want to look. He carefully dug his free fingers into the other hand, opening it up just slightly so they could get a proper hold of the watch.

He had it!

It was pointed and ready to go. He fired the laser and freed his arms.

It was foggy when he opened his eyes. Cindy wasn't in sight. In fact it was impossible to see anything. But he could feel his legs. He curled up close to them, feeling for the rope and getting it off with his laser. He was know completely free.

The fog cleared up. Harsh winds faded. There were no lights below. All of it looked flat and continuous. It was hard to tell but it looked like they were in the middle of the ocean.

He saw Cindy below him, still flailing around in panic. He had to get closer and it had to be fast. They were almost 30 seconds away from turning into flat meat.

Jimmy strapped his watch back to his wrist. He straightened out his body as best as he could. Hopefully Cindy's flailing would provide her a little bit more time. He looked straight at her. His legs together. His arms at his side. The water a good 15 seconds away. He didn't dare look at it. He focused on Cindy. He was getting closer and closer.

10 seconds to impact.

She could now see him. He was just within arms reach but he waited just a little longer. It wasn't time to open his arms and slow himself just a fraction of a second. He wasn't going to survive this fall alone.

"DON'T MOVE!"

5 seconds to impact.

She did as he said. Their bodies were close to touching. The water at the bottom nearly dominating his periphery. His eyes widened. It was now or never.

Jimmy wrapped his arms tight around her. He turned his body to face the ground and wrapped his legs securely around her. He wasn't letting go.

Cindy saw a slight reflection of light from the moon. This was the bottom. She closed her eyes tight.

Jimmy pushed the button on the watch.

She heard a splash. Her head flinched at the sound of it. And then the splash continued. It sounded like a series of splashes were forming together. Even more unusual was the burst of air she felt along with the splashes of water.

Cindy opened her eyes. It was strange. They were still falling, yet water was surrounding them. They were in a pocket of air that was shrinking and slowing down from water resistence. More water kept splashing onto them as they kept slowing.

"Hold your breathe!" Jimmy instructed her.

The wind ceased. The water began flooding in. She did as he said.

It didn't feel like they were falling anymore. Jimmy let go, slightly floating away. She realized they were in water now. Cindy looked up. The air pocket was disappearing. It looked like a whirlpool that was fading.

Jimmy swam up to her. Her arms and legs still wrapped. They made eye contact. He pointed to her arms and legs. His vision was blurred. There at least was moonlight. It was bright enough that her nod seemed to make it clear she understood. She extended out her arms for him. He lasered through the rope. He lowered himself to her legs and did the same. She was free. Now all they needed was air. They swam up.

They both emerged out of breathe. They had been so far deep that they held their breath for 90 seconds. It felt longer than that. In that instant they were just grateful for air.

Jimmy's breathing slowed down. It began to dawn on him just how freezing cold the water was. He looked at Cindy. Her teeth chattering confirmed she noticed too. Behind her he could see a black spot. A fairly large black spot. The full moon helped clear things up a little. It looked like land. Whatever it was it wasn't freezing cold water.

"Hey." Jimmy pointed out over to the spot. Cindy turned around and saw it for herself. "Come on, let's go." He said slightly shivering as he began swimming.

It was land. That was clear when they stepped on the sandy shore. Their eyes adjusted even better. It was some kind of tropical land.

It was lucky that they were safe. Even more fortunate that they had survived. But how long would that be? The chances of landing near actual land were incredibly slim. But populated land was even less likely. The fall was a dark one. There wasn't a man made light he could see from the sky. Not one houselight or car headlight. Not even a man made fire. Chances were that by sunup they'd discover that this was an island.

As he kept walking he looked in front of him. There were pine trees at shore and some forest vines going deeper inland. The sound of waves crashing the shore along with the mysterious nature sounds from within reminded him of somewhere else. They arrived in a place like this before. It may have been daytime when it was easier to see, but the smell was definitely something that came back to memory. It was the logical conclusion. They were on a deserted island… again.

He stopped by the tree. The sounds weren't exactly friendly inside the forest of vines. It was best to stay by the shore.

He looked out at the ocean. The water stretched out into what seemed like infinity. Home was probably so very far away.

He looked up at the sky. At this very moment his creation had turned against him and was plotting with the enemy his ex-boss had birthed.

In some ways he was more responsible for making that possible. The colony was planning to kill countless amounts of people until humanity became extinct. It wasn't just his fault for making it so the ants could be smart enough to do that. Now they had even more tools at their disposal through him. Within less than a week the human race could be extinct from a power they might never know or even see coming. All this time spent planning a trip with a hyperintelligent sarcastic mouse was coming back to bite him. He should've killed the vermin when he had the chance.

But now it was too late for that. The world was doomed and he wasn't able to do anything now but live in his own isolation. It was all James Isaac Neutron's fault.

Cindy stood shivering next to him, not knowing what was going through his mind. He was completely still.

"Um…" Her teeth chattered. "We have to ge-get some wood for a f-fir-fire. You- You can st-start it with the laser, ri-right?" He didn't answer. He didn't move. "Jimmy?"

He stopped pondering and looked at her deadly serious. He then turned back to evaluate his surroundings as best he could. Looking into the forest of vines again didn't inspire much confidence.

"We can't go in there. It's too dangerous." He said walking over to the pine tree.

"Then what do we do?" She asked still shivering. Jimmy stood in front of the pine tree. He laid his hand on it. "Are you cu-cutting it down for wood? That's a go-good idea."

He stood there unresponsive. His hand stayed there.

"Jimmy?"

He finally brought it down gently.

"Look Neutron, we need fire to keep-"

Inexplicably Jimmy threw a punch at the tree as hard as he could. Cindy jumped. You could hear the impact over the waves crashing.

"Neutron?" She asked more concerned, still slightly shivering.

WHACK! He hit it with his other hand.

"Neutron, what are you-"

WHACK! He began to punch the pine tree faster with both hands as he breathed heavily.

"Jimmy, stop it!"

He kept going.

"Stop!"

He pushed it even harder. Even in the dark it was clear his knuckles were bleeding.

"STOP!"

He didn't. He just kept going.

She ran to him and tackled him on the ground. Her hold was tight. He tried getting up. Cindy pulled him down, falling on her back. She wrapped her legs around him and had her arms locked so he couldn't break free.

"LET ME GO!" He shouted.

"STOP IT!" She shouted back.

He continued trying to break free but he was pinned down tight. Cindy always was the better fighter. He couldn't break free unless she let him. Yet all his rage kept him from thinking clearly. All he could think of was punishing himself. To his mind he deserved it and she was keeping him from doing so. He kept trying his hardest to break free. He grunted while Cindy didn't make a sound. Nothing seemed to affect her. Suddenly he stopped. He was out of breathe. He just looked up at the sky. He was just a few days away from starting his life and now he was stranded again. The thing was that this time he put the world in danger and he wouldn't be there to save it. The wasn't a tear in his eye. No snot coming from his nose. Yet his next breath almost sounded like the start of a cry. He wasn't crying, but at that moment he really wanted to. He had screwed up big time.


	27. Chapter 27-Where things stand

The pine tree was later cut down for wood using the laser. He started a fire with the watch as well. They also built a clothesline with the smaller sticks to let their clothes dry out over the fire. Down to their underwear they sat very close to each other out of necessity, counting on the fire and body heat to keep each other warm.

The shivering ceased. Jimmy's knuckles continued to bleed. Without any proper bandages he ended up using his own T-shirt. Cindy gave him hers to wrap around the other hand. There was quite a bit of protesting but she won in the end.

Looking out over the ocean, all he could think about was how bad he screwed the world over. He was stranded. He never thought about how lucky he was that he wasn't alone. Eventually he would probably come to see it that way.

"What do we do now?" Cindy asked.

He didn't look at her. He prefered to wallow in his self pity. It was what he deserved. It was all over.

"Jimmy?"

Of course she would keep asking until he answered.

"Nothing." He finally said.

She scoffed. "Come on, Jimmy. You have that watch. Can't you reactivate Goddard or-"

"We're cut off, Cindy. I looked into it earlier. The watch works but it can't connect to a network. They took everything and cut off my ability to communicate, okay. And I don't even know how much battery I have left on this thing after that air jump. We're stranded."

* * *

Morning came. The fire had gone out at some point in the middle of the night. Sunlight beamed out over the horizon, flashing its way over to his eyes. He slowly began to open them. Right away the brightness was too intense. He sat up immediately as he shut his eyes, his arm covering his face.

He waited a second for them to adjust. His head turned to the left looking to the ground as his arm continued to shield the sun. She wasn't there.

Sight immediately blacked out as something soft fell over his head. He didn't react to it right away, still half asleep. Eventually he could tell with enough light that it was his long sleeve sweatshirt.

"Get up." He could hear Cindy say. "I found some coconuts for breakfast."

He removed the sweatshirt from his forehead. It was still fairly bright. He looked back away from the horizon. Much better now.

Cindy was fully clothed, walking up to him with his clothes and breakfast. He took them as she sat next to him.

He put on his clothes and ate in silence as they just sat there. It wasn't until Cindy suggested "We should look around. See if we can find anything." that they got up and got moving.

* * *

They had been walking along the shore for minutes. Neither said a thing. Jimmy was too upset to even be thinking about the pain coming from his hands. He wasn't going to forgive himself easily over this one. On the other hand Cindy knew he was hurting. Punching that tree made it obvious but she was more concerned about him at this point. She should've been upset that they were deserted but it wasn't like they couldn't take care of themselves. They both had done this before. They knew how to survive and they were only 11. That's why she couldn't accept defeat as easily as he was. They had been in worse scrapes than this. It couldn't just end here.

The silence wasn't working for her. Eventually they had to talk. She was the one that broke the ice. "So… You didn't kill Jerry, huh." She referred back to the event after Christmas.

She looked to see his reaction. His face didn't seem any different than before. It probably wasn't the best topic to open with. "No, I didn't kill him." He answered morosely.

She didn't respond back right away. They continued to walk forward. It wasn't exactly an ideal topic of conversation, but she continued it anyway. "How did you find him?"

Again a pause between question and answer. "He came to me."

"What?" She responded back surprised.

"He came back to the lab right after your dad's funeral. He said he had nowhere else to go."

"So you just let him in?" She asked still a little confused.

"It made sense at the time. I thought he could help me and he was up for it."

"Help you with what?"

There it was. The thing he tried to say the night before. The thing he should've said earlier. But now it didn't seem like a big deal to hide it any longer. Now that they were stranded what was there to hide anyway?

"I was planning an expedition in space. We were supposed to leave in 2 days. That's why the lab looks different now-"

"You were leaving?" She asked right away.

He paused for a bit, keeping his head down. "Yeah. I was going to tell you eventually but… You said it last night. We were getting closer and I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do. I didn't know what to say. I'm sorry."

He kept walking with his head down. At that moment she couldn't feel angry at him. He was already beating on himself. It was depressing just to look at him walk. "Well I'm kind of humbled you took my advice." She said referring to that night in the hangar.

"Doesn't really matter now though." He continued moping.

They kept walking. Watching him walk this lazily was downright ridiculous. It was pitiful. There was no way he could accept defeat this easily she thought.

She attempted to brighten him up a bit. "Remember the last time we were stuck on an island?"

Of course he remembered. They talked about it fairly recently. He probably thought it was a stupid question but she had to start somewhere. But he ignored her and just kept walking.

She continued. "It really sucked at first but then we started to have fun." She reminded trying to cheer him up.

"Cindy, please stop." He quit walking and faced her. "I really fucked up. Big time! They have everything I've ever worked on. Everything I've ever hacked into. It's enough for them to launch every nuclear bomb if they knew how to do it. And with Jerry they probably will know how in no time. I killed everyone, Cindy."

"Jimmy, stop doing this. I know there's another plan, there always is. We both know there's a way out of-"

"There's no way. They won, Cindy."

"What about the watch? There has to be a way to-"

"I told you. They cut me off from any network. There's no one I can contact."

"Are you kidding me? You have a working piece of technology on your wrist. You can find a way to make it work and reconnect. We can have a rescue ship come out here for us."

"Yes, we could. I could go into the forest right now, find some rocks and sticks, carve some useful tools so I can open the watch and work on finding a signal. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG THAT WILL TAKE! Everyone will be dead before I even have the chance."

"It's better than nothing." Cindy retorted.

Jimmy turned away. "It'll take weeks, maybe months." He began walking forward. "By then what would be the point?"

Cindy began to catch up. "Neutron! I'm not about to-"

"IT'S DONE!" He faced her before she could say anything else. "He turned on me and took everything I have. They won." He kept walking on. "I'm sorry I ruined your life."

She had been standing there defeated, but that last bit really ticked something off in her. "What?" He kept walking on. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just leave me alone, okay."

"Neutron!" She put an arm on his shoulder and spun him around to face her. "'I ruined your life?' What're you talking about?"

"You shouldn't have come. You had everything going right. You're getting experience at your job and you have medical school in the fall. And then I drag you into this. It's all-"

Cindy lifted her hand. "Stop right there! You can pity yourself all you want but don't start apologizing for me. I came here with you, okay. I made my own choice to help you out so don't feel bad for getting me stuck here with you. Don't tell me I would've been better off, especially now that the world is ending. I'm glad I'm stuck here with you. I don't want to see a nuclear holocaust. Besides someone has to make sure you don't die from repeatedly bashing your head into a tree."

He looked at her a little surprised. Even though it wasn't the first time she made it clear she cared about him on this island it certainly now felt like it. It wasn't from her own doing but he had just been too busy beating down on himself. She had looked at him waiting for an answer but it never came. He didn't know what to say. Instead she just proceeded to move forward. He followed behind her.

* * *

An hour of walking and nothing new to show for it. They sat on the sand. The situation was hardly happy, but at least the view was beautiful in its own right and the sound of the waves crashing offered some peaceful calm.

What she had said stuck with him for the past hour. He finally began to feel the pain in his bruised up hands along with the regret of letting rage take over. It was all for nothing and it was becoming painful. But also the realization that he wasn't in this alone. He had been so busy punishing himself that there were no thoughts for anyone else. He hated having her around. It had nothing to do with her company, it was just that he really hated to think he was responsible for dragging her into this regardless of what she said. But she was right. He was lucky that there was someone there that had his back. If there was anyone to be stuck on a deserted island with it would be her. He finally let out a bit of a smile at the thought of that. They had both said that to each other once. At the time it was a great relief on their relationship. It changed every interaction they had going forward. Even if they still argued that moment seeded the idea in both their brains that each one still cared very much about the other regardless. It was a life defining milestone for them both. It was doubtful that history would repeat itself this time.

Jimmy spoke. "Hey, um…" Surprised, Cindy to turned to look at him, awaiting whatever words he had to say. "You know it was 11 years ago." He turned to face her. She payed closer attention. "When we were stranded on that island." He clarified.

Her eyes went down as a smile slowly crept on her face. "I guess so, yeah."

He looked out over the ocean. "If we were still stranded there what do you think we'd be doing?"

She chuckled lightly at the question. "God, I don't know."

"We'd have grown out of our old clothes and gone primitive with loin cloths."

Cindy laughs. "Ew, no. I don't even want to think about."

He smiled but it faded back into reality. "Well you're going to have to start. That is if we're lucky and VX gas never makes it out here." That certainly killed the mood but it was a hard truth to ignore. He tried to bring it back around. "But if we still were out there what do you think would've happened?"

She looked at him a little surprised. "How do you mean?"

He thought it over. "I guess with us. Assuming we were the only faces we saw then how do you think we would be after 11 years?"

"It's like you're asking what it would be like if we got married."

Jimmy chuckles. "If that's how it happened we practically would've been." She simultaneously scoffed and smiled at the idea. "But seriously, do you think we would've been okay?"

She was surprised by the level of concern that came with that question. "Yeah, I do. We were able to make smoothies and build two houses in one day. We would've been fine-"

"I don't mean survive. I meant you and me…"

It confused her what answer he was looking for out of this. "We would've been good. We were happy. It was so much fun that I didn't even want to leave, remember?" She laughed at that memory.

On the other hand Jimmy wasn't laughing. Cindy realized she was the only one that was. It ceased when she saw his lack of enthusiastic expression. "I don't think we would've been happy."

Again she looked at him surprised. "Why not?"

He looked out to the ocean not daring to face her. "Think about it: we always fight. Even though we can get along we both end up at each other's throats eventually. And seeing the same face for 11 years is just…" He looked back up to Cindy. Her face was getting confused, saddened, and seemingly offended. He looked back down. "Just forget it. I don't know what I'm saying."

She just looked at him running his fingers through the sand. Something was definitely off. "Neutron, does this have anything to do with why you couldn't tell me you were leaving?"

He didn't have to look at her. She could see his eyes briefly widened after that question. Even though he quickly managed to conceal it she got the answer she was looking for.

He looked back up at her frustrated face. "That's not what I'm saying." He broke it as casually as possible.

"You don't think it would work out. That's it, right?"

"Does it matter? We're both stuck here."

"Does it matter? Of course it matters. We're stranded again and you're telling me you don't think we can get along."

He stood up. "Cindy, that's not what I meant-"

She stood up. "NO! Don't start with that, Neutron! You said exactly what you meant. And guess what? You were right as usual because right now we are fighting." He stared at her blankly. She took a deep sigh. "I don't know why I even bother with you. I'm trying to be the best friend that I can be here. I went on this adventure because if you got yourself killed I wouldn't have forgiven myself knowing I could help you. I stopped you from damaging your hands so badly because you wouldn't be able to build anything integral to our survival. I laid next to you so we wouldn't get hypothermia. WE'RE STRANDED ON A FUCKING DESERTED ISLAND and I'm doing everything I can to keep both of us from breaking. And you're telling me we're not going to get along?"

Jimmy sighed. "That's not-"

She got up, turned around and walked away.

He placed his hands behind his head and looked straight up at the sky, opening his mouth to silently curse. He then released his hands and looked back to Cindy, their distance growing as she continued to storm off. He knew he was a burden. He appreciated what she'd done. But for some reason it was hard to say what he really felt. The only person standing in his way was himself. For the longest time he was his own worst enemy. That was okay. He didn't mind it. Being angry with himself he could handle. He really didn't have any other choice. But he wasn't about to be the cause of losing the last person he would ever see in his life.

She had walked almost 100 yards away from him. He ran. "Cindy!" She didn't stop. He kept running. "Cindy!"

He finally caught up to her. "Cindy, wait!"

She turned around annoyed, crossing her arms over her chest. "What is it?"

He stopped. "I'm terrified, okay." She began to turn back but stopped. "I mean it. I'm scared for my mom. I'm scared for Sheen. I'm scared for Carl. I'm scared for everyone right not. I helped create hyperintelligent ants and put them in alliance with a hyperintelligent mouse. They're armed with the most dangerous gas on the planet and they're about to kill everybody with it. I… If that gas doesn't hit us then how am I supposed to live with that? And what about you? Even after we adjust to this place and start a decent life for ourselves you'll eventually come to resent me. You'd have to. I just got your mom killed. I got your friends killed. I destroyed your future and you will hate me for it when you see it that way. You'll realize that you're trapped with the guy that ended the world. Honestly, that scares me so much right now you have no idea. I'm even surprised that you're taking all this remarkably well right now… I appreciate that you stopped me yesterday. I'm glad you're here but…" She could see his eyes start to water up. "Cindy, I really don't know how I can come back from this one."

In that time her expression shifted to one of sympathy. "I'm not mad at you." She said sincerely. "You're fine. You're going to figure this out, you know. You always do."

He chuckled uncomfortably. "Cindy, I wasn't joking around. We're cut off." He looked at the ground. "We're stuck here."

Here he stood defeated, but she knew better. There was no way it could end here. "Carl once told me you built a time machine to get out of the dinosaur age." That got his attention. He looked back at her. "Well?"

"The cretaceous period? Yeah, I did that."

"And…"

"I doubt there's diamonds here to make it work."

"But…"

"What're you getting at?"

"Jeez, you really got dumber."

"Cindy!" He yelled at her. Something caught the corner of his eye. It was far away down the beach.

"My point is you can still build something to get us out of this mess. It might be a time machine to go back and fix all this. It might not-"

Jimmy pointed out beyond. "I think it might be something else."

Cindy looked out to where he was pointing. "What?"

"Please tell me you see it too."

"See what?"

"Right near the end in that bank. What does that look like to you?"

She focused more on where he was pointing. It was tough to see clearly but there was something poking out. Almost as if it were some kind of structure or a… "Is that…" She didn't finish the question. She turned to Jimmy. "Do you think-"

"Let's find out." He took off running down the beach.

Sure enough it was. The tree houses they had built the last time they were stranded. They spent the night on their own island and didn't even know it.

"I can't believe it." Cindy marveled at them. "All these years and they're still standing."

"Of course they are. The tubes passing through the bottom support them in place. They're guaranteed not to wash away."

She looked at him perplexed. "What're you talking about?"

He looked back at her and laughed. "We just found our ticket out of here." He ran up to his treehouse.

She stood there still confused. "What?"

"Come on!" He shouted as he ran.

She caught up with him at the lift in front of his house. She noted how different the wood felt. Actually it felt more like metal even though it didn't look any different than it had all those years ago.

"I came back and made a few modifications of my own." The lift started to pull them up. "I didn't ever plan on coming back but with all our adventures I thought it might be a good idea to have a safe house." The lift stopped at the top. Jimmy jumped out.

"A safe house?" She asked following him inside. Nothing inside his tree house looked any different. Apart from the material not being actual wood it looked exactly as it once did.

"Yeah." Jimmy confirmed as he plucked out one of his hairs. "It seemed like a good idea incase I needed to go into hiding from any villains we came across." He placed his hair against the wall. There was no clear scanner against it, but suddenly a red light beamed through the wall to reach for the hair.

_DNA match confirmed. Welcome home, Jimmy._

"Wait a minute, is that VOX?" Jimmy nodded back. "Won't they be able to find us?"

"It's not the same interface. I separated it so no one could track me here. It wouldn't be much of a safe house if they could." The entry tube opened up close to Jimmy's feet. "Ladies first?" He offered.

"Is there padding at the bottom?" She asked.

"Of course not." He grinned.

Cindy sighed. "Oh, what the hell." She jumped into the hole. Jimmy followed after her.

"OW!" The landing was much rougher than it was back in his old lab. As opposed to going down a slide, this was a straight drop down. And it hurt. She struggled to stand.

The lab was closer to the original design of the one back home. It had the same subterranean feel except was much, much smaller. It was only one large computer, the same design of the one he had back in the clubhouse. Near the back was a bed along with a supply closet filled with canned food, water, and purple flurp. There were no laboratory utensils in sight. It really was just a safehouse.

"WOO…" Jimmy came down hollering. He landed perfectly on his two feet smiling. Cindy was shocked at the sight. She was about to curse him out but held her tongue.

Jimmy went straight for the computer.

"What're you doing?" She asked.

"Tracking where they are." He answered.

"I'm confused. Didn't you say they locked you out of everything?"

"They locked me out of VOX which is connected to almost everything: my watch, most of my inventions, the hovercar-"

She interrupted. "Then how can you find them."

He smiled. "Lucky for us they took the one invention even I can't control."

"Goddard." She whispered to herself.

"I've always kept a beacon in him incase I lost him. Anyone can access it but no one would know what it is they're seeing except for me."

Jimmy finished typing the commands he needed. After pressing the enter key a map of the Earth appeared. Two green lines, one at the left/the other on top, began to move until they reached the proper coordinates coming in. The map zoomed in to the proper spot. It didn't look like Goddard was moving. They found the location.

"New York City." Jimmy watched the map zoom in closer. It revealed a satellite feed. He could see the hover car sitting at the top of a very tall building. He recognized it.

"Is that the new building?" Cindy asked, equally shocked.

"One World Trade Center, that's it."

"That's an eerie choice."

"They probably need high ground to disperse the gas all over the city. It kind of makes sense." They both kept their eyes on the monitor a bit longer than necessary.

Cindy looked back down at Jimmy. "How are we supposed to get off this island?"

His eye's widened. Finding the treehouse was what gave them hope for leaving to begin with. He rolled back from his chair and opened up the bottom desk drawer. In it were three backpacks. He grabbed two of them and handed one to Cindy.

She looked at it strangely. "What're we supposed to…" She looked back at Jimmy putting his on. The familiar Neutron logo was on it. As soon as she saw it she recognized what it was.

"Oh no, no way."

* * *

At the top of One World Trade Center the queen, now human size, looked straight down the side of the tower. She held a pair of binoculars over her eyes, watching her subjects crawl down the building, gleefully anticipating the move that was to come. In her middle hand was a little black box with a big red button on it. Jerry was the only one up there with her, bored out of his mind, leaning back against the hovercar, reading a copy of "Captain Underpants."

The ants, all in their native size, marched down in single file lines. All of them now had tiny metal bracelets attached to one of their arms.

The queen turned to face Jerry. "Are you sure this will work?"

On the other side of the building Jimmy and Cindy slowly came up on their jetpacks. They flew in closer to the streets in order to avoid being seen. At the top they held onto the railing, carefully pulling themselves up. They managed to lay flat on their stomachs and turn the jetpacks off.

Jerry rolls his eyes up and groaned silently. "For the millionth…" He sets the book down and stands up to face her. "You have the box in your hand?" She holds it up proudly. "Great!" He exclaimed sarcastically. "And they have the bracelets on, right?"

"Every last one." She responded nobly.

"Wonderful! Now when you push the button they will all grow and they will attack the 'giants." He said with air quotes. "Are you getting this?" He asked annoyed

"But are you sure this will work?" She asked again.

Jerry curled his tiny mouse fingers into fists and turned around frustrated. He then quickly turned back. "YES! It'll work!"

"And what about the bomb-"

"Ah Ah AHH!…" He interrupted. "Not yet. One thing at a time. Remember?"

She seemed confused but turned back happily smiling anyway. She continued to watch her army march down. Soon it would be their day. It would be her day.

Jerry jumped back on the hood of the hovercar and reopened his book. "Boy, I cannot wait for this to be over."

Jimmy and Cindy heard everything. Carefully they lifted their heads to get a better view. They were hidden behind the needle. Jerry just laid there reading whilst the queen looked down.

They crouched back down.

"How are we supposed to stop them?" Cindy asked.

"I have an idea. I'll grab that button she has and fly away. The crates must still be in the hovercar. When I'm distracting them you get in the hover car and drive it away."

"That's it?" She commented unsatisfied.

"Yeah." He confirmed unconfidently.

"What about the army of ants down there? We have to do something about them."

"We're in a populated area. I can't really do anything to them out here."

Just then an insect blew up to human size right next to them. It was the queen's bodyguard. He picked Jimmy and Cindy before they had a chance to notice him.

"Your majesty." He popped from around the needle.

The queen turned around recognizing the two humans instantly. She was shocked they were alive.

"These two were planning to take your box and the bomb-"

The Queen interrupted. "How are they here?" She asked bewildered. She looked over a Jerry.

Jerry put down his book. The sight of Jimmy and Cindy caused him to immediately bring back up. "Oh shit." He said quietly to himself.

"Great Evader?" The queen asked of Jerry.

He popped the book back down, a serious frown on his face. He gave the bodyguard a nasty stare. "You have got to be kidding me." He got up and approached the ant. "Did I not tell you to search them before you had them tied up?" He yelled.

"No…" The bodyguard answered confused. "You didn't tell me to-"

Jerry interrupted. "Goddamn!" He turned to face the queen. "What kind of subjects do you call these, your magnificence. All I wanted was the doofus dead."

The queen remains perplexed. "I don't understand how… They should be dead-"

Jerry grabbed the queen by the shoulders and shook her. "THE WATCH YOU BRAINLESS BITCH! GODDAMN IT!" He impulsively let go and changed his voice to a softer tone. "I'm sorry to do that, ma'am. But… You really need to work on your management skills. If your boy can't obey a simple search order I don't see why I should help you build these weapons." He turns around and sulks away. "I guess I'll just mosey on my own. Good luck on your genocide plans or whatever-"

"NO! WAIT!" The queen begged. Jerry's foot hung in the air. "I apologize, Great Evader. I can assure you he will receive proper punishment."

Without any second thought Jerry turned back to face her. "Eh, what the hell. I'll let it slide."

Something was definitely off. Even though they were captured Jimmy was more curious than he was worried.

The bodyguard spoke. "I apologize, Great Evader."

"Damn right you do, pincer face." Jerry fired back confidently.

"Please forgive me." The bodyguard begged. "I shall toss them over the building right now-"

Jerry's arms flew up desperately. "NO! NO, DON'T DO THAT!" This alarmed the queen. Jimmy as well. "Um…" Jerry tried to remain casual. "First of all they still have their jet packs on, YOU IDIOT!" The bodyguard looked over at their backpacks. He ripped them off with his free arms. "And second you forgot about the watch again!" The bodyguard went for Jimmy's wrist and removed it properly.

He held both humans in the air awaiting approval. "Can I toss them now?"

Jerry stood there appearing to ponder it over. "You know what? No, not yet." He stepped up towards Jimmy. "Put him down." The bodyguard did as instructed. Jimmy stood there free, able to fight back if he choose to. But something was off. Jerry put his short arm on Jimmy's back. "I want him to see what we do. They tried to stop us and failed again. Let's break their spirits and after that… I guess you can kill them or whatever." He brought Jimmy over to the ledge next to the queen.

"Excellently handled, Great Evader." The queen complimented.

"Yeah, yeah." Jerry brushed off. "Are they ready to attack?"

The queen looked down with her binoculars. "They're forming into position right now."

"Good." He turned to face Jimmy. "I want you to see this." He handed him his binoculars.

Jimmy looked at him perplexed. "What are you up to?" He whispered.

"Ah pu bub-" He shoved Jimmy closer to the edge to look down. "Questions later. I told you to watch."

Jimmy lightly pushed himself back away from the ledge to avoid falling. He saw the queen looking down in delight. He brought the binoculars over his face to look down.

Standing at attention was a long line of ants at the first floor. The rest were crawling around the building to take an available spot. One last ant needed to take it's place.

The queen chuckled in delight. "They're ready!"

"Fire away, you eminence." Jerry directed her. He leaned up on the railing next to Jimmy. "You know, kid, it's a good thing that brain gain helmet was fried. It's a good thing she had me build them a new one." The queen placed her finger over the button. "But the thing is I have no idea how you managed to make brain cells grown. So much code and formulas that it bores the hell out of me. Honestly, it's much more fun to just mix and match."

She pressed the button and…

They waited…

And waited…

The ants were standing still.

"OW!" Cindy yelled. They turned to see her on the ground next to the bodyguard who was crawling on all six appendages.

"What are you doing?" The queen demanded of the bodyguard. He didn't respond. Instead he inexplicably crawled over to the corner. "GET BACK HERE!" She yelled. "ANSWER ME YOU STUPID BRUTE!"

"Your pompousness, we have a problem." Jerry notifies her.

"WHAT!" He yells back.

The mouse smiles, pointing down at the bottom. The flustered queen made her way over to the ledge, holding the binoculars up her binoculars. Her eyes widened at the sight.

The army had broken formation. There was no consistency in their movement whatsoever. They just crawled around like regular ants do. She lost all calm.

"Um… Yeah, I think I messed theret-" Jerry informed her with a smile

"WHAT!" She freaked. "GREAT EVADER, HOW COULD YOU?"

"Well miss, don't take it personally. I get it: you're mad that your kind have been stepped on and whatever. That's all normal, I know. But… You're all just so… I want to say boring. I mean world domination plans tend to be kind of stupid and they never work out. Sooner or later someone was gonna stop you. I just thought I'd have more fun this way-"

She grabbed the mouse with her middle arms, the upper ones squeezing his head. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?"

"Please stop squeezing my head? I can't think." She released her arms. "They'll be fine, don't worry. I made them the happy, poor, miserable saps that they were. It's all back to normal." The bodyguard suddenly spewed out some vomit at the corner. "… Except for him. We should probably shrink him back. He won't make it far the way he is now-"

She shook him. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HELP US!"

He shrugged at the horrid breath making its way up his nostrils. "Okay. Alright. Calm down…" He pointed at the hovercar. "You can still kill your giants if you really want. The bombs are ready to go in the hovercar."

The queen stared down at the hovercar determined. She tossed Jerry to the ground and made her way.

"Good luck." The mouse grunted as the ant got in the driver's seat.

Jerry then remembered something. His body shot back up and waved down the queen. "HOLD IT! WAIT!" The queen looked at him peculiar but lowered the passenger window anyway. It seemed impolite not to do so. "Wait!" The mouse shouted. He opened the backseat to the hovercar. "I forgot something." A silver, metal box sat on the the floor. He picked it up and closed the door. "Alright. Have a nice trip." The mouse smiled as he waved goodbye. "Oh, don't forget it's that red button in the-" The window rolled up in his face. She couldn't hear his final words as the car lifted up.

Jerry looked up at the car happy. He continued to wave at it until it accelerated forward. He took a deep sigh and turned around.

There stood Jimmy and Cindy, confused as ever. "Oh, right." He said to himself. "I forgot you were here."

Jimmy's mouth was open agap. "Did you just let her escape with the gas?"

"Um…" The mouse scratched his chin. "Yeah, but it's not really a big deal. It'll be in a better place-"

"Woah, woah…" Jimmy shook his head. "What is going on?"

Jerry lifted his hand. "Hold that thought one quick second." He turned around to look back at the hovercar. "I don't want to miss this."

"What're you talking about?" Jimmy walked closer towards the mouse.

The hover car went around the Statue of Liberty, stopping right in front of the city. Jimmy noticed Jerry had his binoculars on for this one. He stepped forward to get a better view.

A rocket was poking from beneath the hovercar. The ant queen aimed it straight for the city.

"She's going to fire it at us." Jimmy realized.

"It sure looks like it." Jerry said without any worry.

Jimmy turned back. "We have to get out of here."

Jerry held his hand up to stop him. "Not yet. I want to watch this."

"What is the big-"

Jerry interrupted. "Just wait, kid."

Jimmy turned back frustrated and lifted the binoculars. The queen was sitting there smiling. Her hand slowly went to press the button with anticipation.

"That's it, baby." Jerry waited. "Come on."

Her hand went over the button, an even more devilish smile growing then before. It was clear she was having a laugh the second she pushed the button when suddenly…

POOF…

The hovercar imploded inside instantaneously. The explosion turned the entire vehicle, along with its contents and personnel, into cheese. The sudden change in material made the hovercar inoperable. The large dairy-made vehicle plummeted down into the ocean.

Jerry laughed it off. Jimmy looked at the mouse surprised. After laughing he returned his gaze. "What? It's funny, right." He kept laughing.

Jimmy stood there perplexed. "The cheese ray?"

"Yeah, I know. It's not really useful but it's fun right. I mean-" He turned around to face Cindy, still laughing. "Hey, you agree right?… Right? " Cindy gave him the same perplexed reaction. He turned away from it. "Eh, screw you. I thought it was funny."

"What the hell are you doing?" Jimmy looked at him seriously.

Jerry was still laughing. "Well I…" He could see Jimmy's still serious expression. "Oh, right. You're mad about the whole… thing. Um. I'm a sick, twisted vermin. What can I tell ya." He placed an arm on Jimmy's back and guided him towards Cindy. "Look kid, I knew you'd make it from that jump. Why do you think I flew them over your safe house?"

"How do you know about that?" Jimmy asked.

"You kidding, is it supposed to be secret?" Jerry laughed. "Look idiot, if you didn't want me to find it you should've named it something other than 'S.H.' Anyway I got caught in the anthill but it turned out they saw me escape from the lab. I was like some God apparently. They would do everything I told them to. It was ridiculous. I even had four of them combined together to serve as my own personal chair. It was so degrading. You should've seen it." He stopped walking and faced Jimmy, placing both paws on his shoulders. "But seriously, you were lucky you didn't have to spend time with. Their intelligence was primitive compared to mine. All they thought about was 'kill &amp; conquer.' It was really annoying." Jerry walked off towards the silver box. "I'm glad we're done with this crap. You've got more important things to take care of anyway." He gave Cindy a nudge towards Jimmy and left the two of them alone. "Also I didn't hear a 'Thank You for saving the world for me, buddy' but you're welcome anyway.'" Jerry shouted from the corner.

They both stood there perplexed. Just a minute ago they swore they had lost. They believed they were about to witness the beginnings of an extinction event. And then… Well, Jerry happened. Neither one of them seemed to know how to acknowledge it. They both just looked at each other confused.

"Did…" Cindy spoke first. "Did that just-"

"Happen?" Jimmy finished for her. "Apparently, yeah."

"Huh." Cindy reacted still not knowing how to comprehend it all.

"Hey lovebirds!" Jerry called out as he played with the box. They turned to face him. "Before either of you gets a chance…" He presses a button on the box. Out pops the mechanical canine's head, legs, and tail. He's fully reactivated. "I got dibs on riding Goddard back."

* * *

The flight back was fairly awkward (except for Jerry who enjoyed the comforts of his chair on Goddard's flight mode). Flying home by jetpack didn't open up opportunities for conversation, but there were plenty of thoughts going through his mind. It was all over. He had quit his crappy job. He started his own company. He managed to save the world by cleaning up the mess he made (Jerry would beg to differ). Everything was right for him to leave. There was the matter of Sheen but that was out of his control. There was nothing holding him back anymore… Except one thing. Chances were she was thinking of the same exact thing. Or at least something along those lines.

It was sunset when they landed in Jimmy's backyard. Jimmy and Cindy drop gently on the ground. Goddard had reverted back to his normal build once Jerry got off.

"Here." Cindy handed over the jetpack.

Jimmy grabbed it. "Thanks."

Silence hung in the air as he took off his, delaying the time for as long as he could before he felt awkward standing there.

"So…" She began to speak. "You're leaving soon?"

Jerry's eyes lit up realizing that she had finally been told.

"Yeah…" He nodded nervously. "Two days."

"Oh… So that's-"

"The day after tomorrow…" He finished. His hand nervously patted on the backpack as he uncomfortably watched her reaction.

The awkwardness was too much for Jerry. "Hey kid, can I uh…" He motioned for a strand of hair to get inside. Jimmy ripped one off and opened the door. "I'll see you inside kid." He turned to Cindy. "Nice meeting you, Cindy." He waved.

"Bye." She waved back with a light smile. It faded after the door closed.

There was a lot of dirty laundry to air out. It was on both their minds, yet…

Nothing. Just silence. They could hardly look each other in the eye. He could hardly say anything. Right now he wished she had just gone home and that would've been it. He wasn't ready for how tough this conversation was going to be for the both of them.

"I guess I'll see you before I go."

If those words hurt her she did a good job of not showing it. Either way it definitely wasn't the statement she expected. "Um… Yeah…. Maybe, we'll see."

He nodded before the 'maybe' remark. Once it was out in the air he regretted it immediately.

"Alright… Good night I guess."

She nodded and turned to walk away not saying one word. He noticed how her steps subtly picked up as she exited his view. His head dropped with a sigh.

A piece of hair went over the scanner and unlocked the door. As he entered a paw grabbed his shirt and yanked him inside across the room. He landed on the table.

"Ow! What the-" The paws grabbed him again and picked him up, placing him onto the couch.

"Seriously kid? What the hell was that?" Jerry demanded.

"What's your problem?"

"I guess 'I'll see you before I go… Maybe-'" Jerry mocked. "Are you kidding me? I gave you two lovebirds time to patch things up on that island and that's what you're gonna go with."

"Why do you even care? You were the one that told me to just dump her without saying anything."

"Well I'm not as much of an asshole as you think."

"Says the mouse that just tossed me onto the ground."

"You can't end it like that."

Jimmy gets up. "Yes I can."

Jerry pushes him back onto the couch. "I'm not letting you do that."

"Are you-… What kind of intervention is this? Are you trying to play the TV best friend that won't let his life fall down the drain over some girl? This isn't that at all, Jerry!"

"NO, IT ISN'T! You're right, kid! This is about some girl you've known since you were a kid and have a history that I don't know anything about. Although apparently it's big enough that you have journal entries about spending the best day of your life on an island with her. I'm not going to pretend I know anything since you two clearly haven't started anything. Your constant stares where you both keep fucking each other's eyes is enough for me to know that you're both dying to start something but are afraid to do anything about it. I'm not telling you to fix it and go get the girl. I'm telling you to make peace. Have some fucking closure so I don't have to listen to you whine about an old flame when we're out there!"

Jerry stormed into the elevator leaving Jimmy on the couch to think.


	28. Final Chapter-Home

He was up early. He didn't get out of bed right away. He just laid there thinking, waiting for the sun to rise up so he could get moving like everyone else. His head resting on the side, eyes focused on the window across the street. It would be the last time he would get to see it for a long time. Even then the sight of it could lose it's meaning since she likely wouldn't live in that room anymore. But the memory would always be there. He scanned every detail he could think of to keep that memory as authentic as possible. Everything from the past he could think of he stored deep in his mind. It was all he had really. He didn't have a suitcase filled with belongings. Just experiences to pack in his mental memory box. When he's out there alone, feeling lost, he was going to need those memories for comfort.

The sun had risen and he had yet to move. He could hear a car pulling out of a nearby driveway. Likely Cindy going to work.

It was going to be a long day. He had to get a prototype hover car ready to fly to Iowa and say goodbye to Carl. He had to visit Sheen one last time. He would once again say goodbye to his mom. But he really wanted to leave things with Cindy on good terms. Just for once it would be nice if they could look one another in the eye when they saw each other again. Breaking up and going to college technically was ending on good terms, but it still felt unresolved.

Suddenly a vibration came from the nightstand. His eyes left the window and saw his phone vibrating. He reached over and saw it was his mom.

"Hello-" He said sounding tired.

"Sheen's awake!" Judy exclaimed before Jimmy finished saying that one word.

His eyes widened instantly as he got up. "What?" He reacted urgently.

"Sheen's awake! Come over right away!"

* * *

As had been the case fairly regularly, Jimmy ran down the hospital hallways despite being told to walk by staff every time. Of course this time he wouldn't stop.

Dr. Miller was closing the door as he exited Sheen's room when Jimmy came up to him.

"Ah, Jimmy." Dr. Miller said with a fairly comforting greeting.

Jimmy braked his feet as his shoes squeaked against the hospital floor. "Is he okay?" Jimmy asked hastily.

"He's healthy-"

"His brain?" Jimmy interrupted quickly out of breath. "His head? How's his-"

"He knows his name. He hasn't had any memory problems. It looks like we're okay-"

That news was all he needed as Jimmy quickly opened the door and shut it behind him just as quick.

At first the room didn't look too different than it always had. It was dark, the heart monitor beeped, and Sheen was laying in place. Only this time he didn't have the incubator in him.

Sheen looked like hell. He was groggy. Dead tired. Barely had his eyes open. He could've played an effective corpse on a TV show without trying.

Jimmy began to breathe normally as he slowly approached the bed. Sheen's eyes began to slowly flutter open.

"Jimmy?" Sheen said rather weakly.

"Yeah." Jimmy smiled with great relief. Sheen lifted his arm slightly. Jimmy gripped it. "I'm so happy you're up, man."

"Yeaaahhh." Sheen let out in a daze of euphoria, probably the morphine. "It's good to see you."

"How are you feeling?"

Sheen looked away to think about it. He then closed his eyes and smiled a bit before opening them again. "Tired."

Jimmy laughed. "You lost a lot of weight too."

Sheen sat up slightly holding the grip onto Jimmy's wrist. "I know." He let out with delirious enthusiasm. "It's crazy." His eyes wondered down to Jimmy's bruised hand. "Woah… what happened?"

Jimmy noted Sheen's eyes focusing on his wrist. "Oh… Long story."

"Hey… Did Carl move back to town?"

Jimmy was puzzled by the question. "No, he's in Iowa."

"That's weird… They told me he'd be here in half an hour so I-"

SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!

The door burst open as Carl Wheezer went straight to Sheen's bed. The big guy immediately hugged him, pulling Jimmy in with them. "You have no idea how happy I am right now."

"Um, that's great." Sheen struggled to say. "But can you loosen up. I still can't breathe too good."

"Sorry." Carl let go immediately. He placed his arms on Sheen's shoulders, smiling. It looked almost as though tears of joy would come out of those eyes. "We were really worried. You have no idea."

"Alright." Sheen smiled in pain. "You can let go though."

"Yeah." Carl did just that. "Sorry." He stepped back now standing next to Jimmy.

"Hey Carl, how did you get here so fast?" Sheen asked.

"I fly my hovercar here."

Sheen gave Jimmy a confused glance and then looked back to Carl. "You have a hovercar?"

Carl put an arm around Jimmy's shoulder. "Jimmy gave me one." He announced proudly. He turned his head to Jimmy. "Go ahead and tell him."

Sheen looked even more confused.

"Well…" Jimmy hesitated a little. "A lot's changed. I started a company and Nick helped me put hovercars on the market."

"Dean?" Sheen reacted surprised.

Jimmy nodded. "There's some traffic laws and regulations that have to be sorted out but it's going to be on the market. Some rich people have already preordered them."

Sheen's eyes widened as he looked more awake and normal. "Woah, cool. Did you quit working for Carvey?"

"Um… No one's working for him again."

"Awesome!" Sheen exclaimed. "It's cool you're working again. Are you back in the lab?"

"Uh…" Jimmy bobbed his head a little. "Yeah." He said smiling, it being technically true.

"That's dope." Sheen leaned back happily.

"Listen, Sheen." Jimmy began with a more serious tone. "I have to tell: Alicia kicked you out from-"

"I know." Sheen interrupted. "They told me. Nick's got my stuff and he's paying. I guess it makes sense you worked together while I was asleep."

Jimmy frowned a bit. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, I'm fine." Sheen reassured. "Fuck her, it was gonna happen. I know I'm lucky and I have to find a job and a new place. But it's cool you're working. Are you moving to some city?"

"Um… something like that." Jimmy said. "I just woke up. I need some coffee. You want any?"

Sheen held up his tube gesturing he was good.

"Carl?"

Carl shook his head. "I'm good, Jim. Thanks."

"I'll be right back."

* * *

He stood in front of the vending machine thinking as it poured coffee.

Of course he was going to have to tell them he was leaving. Hell, that was his plan for the day. But now with Sheen awake it seemed worse. Waiting till the last minute was bad enough but now he felt really guilty. That was just his luck. He somehow always managed to complicate things unintentionally.

"Well if it isn't the famous Jimmy Neutron." A female voice came from behind him.

Jimmy turned around confused at the comment. The look of confusion turned to one of surprise as he saw the unexpected appearance of a famous up-and-coming pop star.

"Libby?"

She smiled back at him. "Hey Jimmy."

"Oh man." Still holding his hot coffee cup he immediately went for a friendly hug. She came in for it. "It's been so long." As he put an arm around her his coffee jumped out from the cup. "Woah!" Jimmy reacted. Fortunately it fell on the floor, not on Libby's back. The both chuckled. "Let me put this down." He quickly crouched on the ground as he set it down to get back up. "Sheen's in that room. You want to see him?"

"I already did. I was here when he woke up."

Jimmy gazes at her in disbelief of her presence. "Wow, you're really here! It's been so long. How are you? I hear your band is getting big."

"Indeed it is." She smirked modestly. "We just had a single hit the radio."

"That's great. I'm really happy for you. You're living your dream."

"Thank you."

"How'd you get here so fast?"

"There's a show in Dallas tonight. I flew in yesterday. Cindy and I were supposed to spend the day together."

Jimmy's happiness for her quickly faded. "Oh… She didn't mention that."

"I don't see why she would with you nearly destroying the world for the millionth time." Libby held a disdainful but oddly friendly look that was tough to describe. She noticed his wrists. "She wasn't kidding. You really lost it."

"She told you about that?"

Libby smiled. "Of course. We still share everything."

He dropped his head for a bit before facing her again. "Did she tell you anything else?"

Libby's smirk faded as she carefully studied his manner. "You're really leaving, huh?"

Jimmy sighed. "She's really mad at me, isn't she?"

"No. Not at all." Jimmy's head wandered over to the wall. "She's glad you're doing something. I am too. We all are."

He dropped his head again. "It didn't look like she was happy last night."

"Of she's not happy, Jimmy." Libby affirmed directly. "After months of being that close to you she's definitely not happy you're leaving." Her tone softens. "But she knows you need to. It sounds like you've been having problems so I'm glad you're going on your own adventure."

"Thanks." He meant it but still felt guilty.

"But you could've handled it better. I mean seriously, you had 3 months to say something and you tell her the night before."

"I really... ugh."

"I'm surprised Carl didn't let something slip or make you tell her right away before he said anything." Jimmy sighed returning a blank, guilty look. "Oh, don't tell me you haven't told him yet."

"I was going to see him this morning."

"Jeez, Jimmy." She placed her palm over her face before looking at him again. "You know he wants you to be his best man, right?"

Jimmy's eyes widened. "He hasn't even asked."

"He's going to. Can't you wait till after his wedding at least?"

"It's going to be months away, Libby."

"So? He's your friend."

"I know that, but... I can't stay."

"Why?"

"Libby, I can't wait that long. If I stay then I'll have to work on my company just so I'm not bored. Then I'll get even closer to Cindy and… eventually I'll have to stay. Even now I'm this close to not leaving just so I can stay with her. If she were to beg me to stay right now I'd struggle to say no-" Libby smirked a little. Jimmy caught on. "-And don't you dare tell her that…." He pulled his hair. "You have no idea how hard this is. I have to let everybody down. I don't care if this doesn't make sense to you but if I don't go I'll get sucked in and I'll never leave."

"Come on, you're not George Bailey. It wouldn't be as bad as you think."

"You seriously don't know how it is. I'm not trying to be rude, okay. I don't expect you to get it. I don't expect anyone to." He quieted down a bit and looked at her seriously. "I have to do this, Libby. I know I'm being selfish but I have to do this and it has to be now. I've wasted too much time doing nothing. I can't do that anymore."

Libby quietly took a deep breathe holding a look Jimmy thought was judgemental. "Are you going to tell them?" She asked pointing at the door.

He looked at the door and sighed. "I'm about to." He turned back to Libby. "Listen, I know this is none of my business but... You and Sheen... How-"

Libby laughed at the obvious implication. "We're just friends, Jimmy. There's nothing-"

"I know. I'm just... Before his accident I know he really missed you. He missed high school in general-"

She interrupted. "What happened happened. Besides..." Libby smiled as she held up her right hand. A ring was clearly on her finger."Besides it would be stupid to-"

His eyes widened. "You're married?"

"Engaged." She confirmed happily with a smile. "We haven't set a date. It'll probably be next year after the tour."

"Who is it?"

"Malcolm. He's the drummer in the band."

"That's awesome…" Silence passes for a bit. "I'm really happy for you." He added.

"Thanks…" Another silence passed. She then motioned towards the door. "You should go in there and tell them."

* * *

"Tomorrow?" Sheen asked now wide awake.

"Yeah." Jimmy nodded downbeat.

Silence passed as it was a lot to suddenly take in. Carl held onto a strange look uncharacteristic of him, almost as if he was holding a grudge. Jimmy dropped his head assuming it wasn't good.

Carl got up. "I'm going for a walk." He went to the door.

Jimmy stood up. "Carl, wait a-"

His friend walked right past him and before he finished, Carl was out the door. Jimmy lowered his head and sighed. "Great." He sunk back into his seat. For a while he kept his head down. The silence went on for too long that he looked back up to Sheen, who was staring blankly at the wall. "I'm guessing you're pissed off too."

Sheen kept thinking for a bit "No. No, I was just thinking…" His eyes remained on the wall. "Man, this really sucks."

"I'm sorry I can't-"

His head moved to face Jimmy. "I'm not mad at you, dude. You're going to space: that's awesome. That's definitely you. It really is what you should be doing." It was good to hear. He smirked a little but it was just a short crack. Sheen continued. "It's just... I was thinking about how for me this sucks. You know, you really are the only friend around here that I have to hang out with… And now I guess I'm really going to be alone." Sheen leaned his head back into the bed.

Jimmy just looked at his friend with guilt and pity. He couldn't always fix everything on his own. He couldn't fix Sheen's life to make it better. But he could at least help. "I wrote a contract for you and I gave my mom instructions on how to handle everything. That is if you're interested."

Sheen looked confused. "What?"

"We've both made excuses instead of doing what we wanted to do. And you definitely have had it rougher than me and most people I know. But if you want to go school now I have the money to pay for it-"

"You're seriously going to do that?"

"-And pay for your apartment and food. You can also have $500 of spending money a month."

"You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

"I have the money. I'm not gonna be here to spend it. But I'm only helping you on one condition."

"What is it?"

"You can't mess around and flunk out. I really want to help you out but if you stop trying I can't allow you to keep getting money. As long as you're trying I got your back."

"I can't promise you I will."

"Why not?"

"Are you kidding? I'm 25 years old. I got held back twice in school. Everyone I know has already graduated. I'm way behind. Do you know how embarrassing that's gonna be?

"It's community college, Sheen. It's meant to give people second chances. You won't be alone."

Sheen sighed. "I don't know."

"Do you really want to be a dishwasher for the rest of your life? Come on, man. It isn't that hard. And I'm giving you the money. You don't even have to work unless you want to. Just... I know you have goals. I just want to see you do more."

Sheen didn't say anything. He gave a look that communicated he was thankful, but there was clearly more on his mind. "You know that's exactly what I wanted for you…" Jimmy let a light smile start to grow. A chuckle infected Sheen. "Alright, if you don't quit, I won't quit."

"Really?"

"When do summer classes start?"

"Um... mid June I think."

"Sign me up. I'll do it."

"Oh man." Jimmy gets up and smiles. He goes in to do the custom fist bump.

"Dude, come here." Sheen tries to get up but struggles. Still an arm went around Jimmy and he got the message. "Thank you. Seriously."

"You're gonna be fine."

They let go.

"I think you gotta go talk to Carl. Can you send Libby back in here for me?"

"Yeah, sure." He said unenthusiastically.

"Thanks.

* * *

Libby was sitting in a chair next to Sheen's door, texting on her phone when Jimmy came out. "Hey, he wants to talk to you."

"Oh." She said a little surprised. "Okay." She got up.

"Did you see where Carl went?"

"He went up on the roof. I think Cindy is with him." He reacted with a look that didn't seem good. "Yeah, he didn't look happy."

"I'll bet. Well thanks. I'll see you later." He walked away.

"Good luck!"

* * *

He climbed the stairs up to the roof. When he opened the door he saw the two exactly where she said they would be. They both leaned against the railing, looking out over the town.

"Hey!" Jimmy called out. They both turn around. "Can we talk, Carl?"

He saw the two talk quickly amongst each other. Shortly after Cindy patted Carl on the back and began to walk towards the stairs. On her way over to Jimmy quickly spoke to her. "Hey, um... Can you come by the lab later tonight? There's some stuff I want to say if that's okay with you."

Cindy nodded as expected. "I'll be there."

"Thank you." He really was grateful for that reaction.

She opened the door to the stairs and left, leaving just Jimmy and Carl standing there. Quite a gap between them. Neither one made the effort to close it.

"What's up?" Carl asked with a hint of disappointment.

"You seemed pretty upset earlier."

"I guess I did."

"Cindy too I'm guessing."

"She is, yeah."

"Look, I'm sorry. You've all guilted me for not doing anything for a long time now-"

"Don't start blaming us, Jim."

"I'm not trying to… I just don't want anyone to make me feel bad for leaving. I'm sorry if that sounds mean but I'm worried about that."

"I'm not going to do that. That'd be stupid… I'm happy for you. It's pretty much what we all were hoping for you." Carl said without much enthusiasm.

"You don't look happy."

"Did you have to wait this long just to tell us?" Carl asked annoyed.

"I'll admit it wasn't too well planned on my part but... I just wasn't 100% sure… I just didn't want to say something and then have it not work out, you know?"

Carl nods. "I guess."

"Still I know I should've said something." He said quietly.

"Of course." Carl benignly retorted.

"Cindy's really mad I take it?"

"No. No way. She's really happy you listened to her." He said sounding more earnest. "I don't think she'd let you know that but she is."

"Libby told me what you were gonna ask." Carl just stood there. "I really want to go but I can't stick around any longer. If I do I'll-"

"I know, Jim."

"I just have to go before I-"

"I know. You don't have to prove it to me. I get it. Not everyone will but I get it."

Jimmy sighs. "I'd hate to think that it looks like I'm trying to buy forgiveness with money but I was going to offer to pay for the wedding-"

"There's nothing to forgive, Jim. Seriously, stop trying to make an excuse. You have to go. I know that. We've all known that for a while. We want you to go. There's nothing here for you."

"Okay…" He despite Carl's acceptance he couldn't help but feel guilt. He attempted to lighten the moon. "But I'm offering to pay for the wedding. However big you want it to be it's not a problem."

Carl smiled. "Elke will love that."

"Look, um... It's my last day and I'm starting to get hungry. I still haven't had McSpanky's in years. You want to go get some and bring it back for everyone else."

Carl thought about it for a second. "Yeah, let's do it."

* * *

And so they did. Back at the hospital they ate in Sheen's room. Libby and Cindy were there. They all reminisced about the adventures that they had when they were kids. It was the first time in nearly over 8 years that the entire gang was in the same place. It was as if the present didn't exist, like none of them had changed. Remnants of their old personalities resurface. Sheen's grogginess dissipated and his hyperactivity came back like a shot of adrenaline. Carl shied away at every embarrassing memory that came back involving him. Libby was probably the only one that hardly changed over the years. Jimmy and Cindy returned to their old ways, fighting over who remembered things more accurately. Eventually one of the nurses had to notify Cindy her lunch break was over. But for that hour it really was as though the present didn't exist.

Eventually Libby had to get going. She had to prepare for a gig in Dallas that night. Once the three amigops were alone that's when reality came back. Sheen was lucky there was no long term brain damage. Carl was about to get married and have a kid. But all the attention was on Jimmy.

After hours of talking, Jimmy finally got up from his chair. "You know what, I actually have to get going too. Last dinner with mom and..." It was quiet for a bit. No one wanted to say goodbye. "I guess I'll see you... Whenever I'm back." It wasn't a definitive answer but Carl and Sheen nodded along anyway. "Goodbye I guess."

Carl got up and went for a hug right away because of course he would. "Be careful out there."

"I will." Jimmy said getting a little choked up.

"Be careful with that mouse. Cindy told me he plays a lot of dirty tricks."

"You have no idea."

Carl let go. Jimmy then went up to Sheen. It's a shorter hug due to the constraints of Sheen's leeds but it was welcomed enough. "Good luck." Jimmy says.

"You too." Sheen replied.

Jimmy nods. He went stood by the door just a little longer to drag out the time. This could be the last time he ever saw them. Or the last time they were all this young. He dragged the time until there was no point anymore and took his final steps out the door.

"Goodbye you guys." He said as the door shut them out of his sight... And that was it.

* * *

There closed a chapter of his life. Goodbyes just weren't his thing. On the drive back he kept thinking about how he didn't say enough. There was the chance that this could've been the last time he had seen their faces. He wished he had said more. He wished he could have given more. He wished he could have done more. He wasn't sure of what exactly but he just wished he had done it better. It's strange to say goodbye. He was hitting himself mentally for not knowing what to say until this very moment. If he had a second chance he would've thanked them for being there. For being in his life. Had he never known he wouldn't have become who he was now. Despite the bumps he had over the years and the flaws in his character he wouldn't trade his youth for anything. Three Amigops for life. He wished he had said those things but in truth they probably already knew. They probably had similar sentiments about each other. It may not have been perfect but they finally did have closure. But there were other threads to tie up.

He pulled into his driveway for the last time, yet there was an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

He didn't have to guess who it was. He knew his mom had made the phone call. Of course she would.

He entered the house to find his mom and his dad in the kitchen.

"Hey Jimbo." Hugh smiled.

"Hey." Jimmy said politely but irritated by his presence.

"I'll leave you two alone." Judy left the kitchen

A long moment of silence passed until Jimmy broke it. "You're here?" He observed.

"Your mom told me you were leaving and asked me to come." He said a little sad.

Jimmy snorted. "Of course she did."

Hugh chuckled. "She really insisted… I've been reading about you. You're doing really well."

"Is that why you came? You want some money."

"Come on, Jimbo. Let's try to be civil. I have to catch a flight soon and-"

"What do you want?" Jimmy asked annoyed.

"I'm not here for anything. It's just that your mom wasn't sure when you were coming back and... I just wanted to say goodbye before I missed my chance..." Despite his clear earnestness Jimmy didn't show much empathy. "I'm really proud of you. All the things that you've done. Everything you made. Going to Harvard at 14. And now you have your own company. I... I don't understand why you would want to leave everything behind." Jimmy scoffed. Of course his father wouldn't understand. "I'm not as smart as you but I know that whatever you're doing is going to work out. You're always ahead of the game before everyone else. I really hope you come back and tell us about what you find."

Jimmy let a little smile crack. "Me too." To his surprise he did mean it.

"Well I should get going. I thought you'd be here all day for lunch so I'm sorry I didn't get much time. It's a long drive to the airport." He got up and extended his hand. 'Good luck."

Jimmy hesitated but grabbed it for a shake. "Thanks."

* * *

On the driveway, Hugh was about to enter his rental car when-

"Hey dad!" Jimmy called out. He turns around before getting in. Jimmy came from front porch steps. "Here!" He threw a set of keys at him. Hugh caught them. He looked back at Jimmy confused. "It's for the hover car." Jimmy points out.

Hugh looks at it. "You're giving me your car?"

"I have a bunch of them. This is one of the first models. It'll be on the market pretty soon."

"Uh... That's nice but I still have to return the car."

"You can do that and then signal the car to come back to you. You see the big red button on the key? That's what it's for."

"I don't know how to fly, Jimbo."

"You can learn later. Just use auto-pilot for now. It'll take you home."

He looked at the keys then back at Jimmy, then closed them in the palm of his hand and put them in his pocket. "I just push the button?"

"It's that simple."

"Wow... Thanks Jimbo." Hugh said with a smile.

"Just call mom about the pink slip. She'll mail you one.:

Hugh looks back at Jimmy proud. "Goodbye son."

Jimmy smiled back slightly "Bye dad."

* * *

Goodbyes really weren't his thing. Again, thinking about it now he probably could've said more. They could've had a more meaningful conversation. But then again there wasn't much to talk about. Maybe fill his dad in on what he was doing but that was it. Anyway it seemed like hearing his dad say he was proud was enough. There were still some unresolved issues, but then again what boy didn't have father issues in some form. For now this was good enough. It was brief but he felt it was good enough. It clearly worked as he watched the hover car take off from the driveway by itself from his bedroom. As that happened Cindy came back home in her car. He quickly went down to the lab to be there for when she arrived.

He wasn't nervous. Actually he was quite calm. He thought he should've been nervous. This seemed like the most important goodbye for him. Maybe it was just a defense mechanism.

He had left the clubhouse door open for her to come down. He waited patiently till she finally arrived at the entrance of the lab/spaceship dock(?). Then he saw her walk in.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey."

They both stood there quietly in awkward silence. He was really getting tired of having those.

"How was work?" He said in attempt to get a conversation going but avoided the topic at hand.

"It was fine." She said plainly.

"Good. Um…" He changed his tactic. "Let's just cut to the chase. There's no reason to make this awkward."

"What do you want to do? Just shake hands and say goodbye?"

"No, just... It's really important to me that I say this right."

"Jimmy, there's no pressure." She said casually. "No one's mad at you for leaving. I even told you months ago this is what you should be doing and I'm glad you're doing."

"But I could've told you sooner, right?"

"Well duh. You never were good at timing."

"I really wanted to. I have to make that clear. I wasn't using you as a... companion or anything like that just to run away at the last minute."

She chuckled at the mention of the word "companion." "God you're a such a dork." She quietly muttered loud enough for him to hear. "I know that. Every time I made a move you avoided me like the plague."

"And now you know why."

"Why are we talking about this? You brought me here to say goodbye, right?"

"I just want to end things on good terms."

"Neutron, I'm not mad at you."

"I'm not saying you... Look I just want it to be clear how difficult this is for me. And don't lie to me, it has to be for you too."

"Jimmy, you have to move on and leave home. I get that. We've all had to at some point."

"I just want to be clear-"

"Clear on what? What do you want to say?"

"This isn't easy for me."

She groaned annoyed. "Just say it."

"No, I really mean it. This isn't easy. Leaving you... isn't easy... At dinner the other night if that conversation kept going I might've scrapped all my plans. That's why I didn't tell you sooner. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to leave anymore. I really don't mean to be over dramatic here but I like you… A lot… I always have, you know that."

"So why don't you stay?"

"Is that what you want?"

She brushed off the response. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"You've already made up your mind. It's not like if I say 'Yes' you'll stay all of the sudden."

"You don't know that."

"I do. You know why? Because it'd be stupid of you to do so. You have the chance the to go out there and discover things NASA should've done years ago. What you're doing is a major step for humanity. It's something that could put you in the history books as one of the great explorers. It's better than being known as just the inventor of the hover car. And none of that matters because I know you. I know you're not doing it for fame. You're doing it because you're a scientist. You're naturally curious and want to find answers. And now you suddenly want to give all that up?"

He quickly responded without a second's thought. "Yeah, but I don't know if it's-"

"Have you even thought about asking me to come with you?" Jimmy just stood there dumbfounded. "You haven't and you want to know why? Because you know we wouldn't have been able to get along. We would be a ticking time bomb in outer space and that would get us killed."

"Cindy, I-"

"You said it yourself on the island. After a certain point we would hardly be able to stand each other."

"You know I didn't mean that. I was depressed because I thought we lost-"

"You did mean it, Jimmy. It's true. I like you just the same but we always fight. That's just what we do."

"But if I stay maybe it would be-"

"I'm not giving you the chance, Jimmy. You go." She said bluntly. That stopped him. He was clearly stung. The site of that hurt Cindy a little. She took a deep breathe. "We've all had that moment where we figured out exactly what it is we're doing. This venture is yours. You're not going to cancel it on something you're not sure about and I'm definitely not going to ask you to stay for something I'm not even sure about..." She starts to chuckle a little. "Honestly, it sucks. I can't hide it. If you asked me earlier today to stay I probably would've begged you to stay. But then what?... It really sucks that you're leaving. But if there's anyone that's meant to go out there and explore the galaxy, and can do it with natural awe, curiosity, joy and passion, then that person is you. Everyone knows that. I always did think it's what you should be doing. It's not because you're the only one on the planet that's qualified... but because I know you'll love it." She smiled at that last line.

The final decision was made for him. He thought about saying that he loved her. He thought about saying something cliche like he would do anything for her. But he didn't have to say it now. Living his own life for himself wasn't just a selfish act now. It was also something he was doing for her. Jimmy kind of smiled but didn't seem to sure. Even to him that thought was a bit odd and cheesy to have. "You want to go get a drink. Have a chat. Play some darts. Just have fun, you know... one last time?"

She smiled at the idea. It did sound appealing. But...

She held that light smile and said "No." That was all she said.

Jimmy stood there deflated. Cindy walked up to him and gave a hug. He embraced it tight.

She let go as quick as they had embraced. There they stood within close proximity. She looked at him nervously. "Goodbye Jimmy." She turned around and walked away as fast as she could.

* * *

It was 10pm. He had gone to bed early to get an early start but he couldn't sleep. After all how could he? This was the last time he'd sleep comfortably in his own bed. In his neighborhood. His home town. His home planet. Everything that was familiar. It was going to be a drastic change for him. He began to have doubts that he could do it. How could he leave home? Home is home. It was a big part of him. It always would be.

Eventually he got tired of just laying around thinking. He got up and left the house. He went around town letting old memories flood. Memories of Lindberg elementary, the Candy Bar, Retroland, working at Mcspanky's. He was fortunate to spend the time he had in Retroville. The kids today didn't seem to be having as much fun as his grade did. He remembered when the town was filled with kids running around. Now most of them were inside playing video games and skyping. He was thankful for his youth. He knew it was a special time for him and his classmates. When you go on an intergalactic mission to save your parents that bonds you for life. He would never forget his time here. The people here.

But it was time to go. This place couldn't offer him anything else.

* * *

He did manage to get a few hours of sleep, but most of the night he stayed up thinking. Excitement, anxiety, insomnia. A combination of them all and more maybe. Either way he likely wouldn't be able to get a decent amount of sleep until he adjusted to space travel.

He looked at Cindy's window just as he had the morning before, this time wondering if he was doing the right thing. Everyone knew there was always something there. He felt it. She felt it. They all recognized it. He had her approval to go yet still felt conflicted. If he followed his emotions then he knew he wanted to stay. That was for sure. But who's to say it would be the right decision? After the satisfaction of having her then what? Would it really be happily ever after or just a honeymoon phase? Would they be soulmates for life or get tired of each other's presence real fast? Together forever or eventually separate like everyone else? He had to face the hard truth: no matter how much they liked each other they were both naturally combative. She was right. Even he knew it on the island. It didn't mean they didn't care for one another but for them a relationship would be a ton of work. Every relationship posits its own challenges, but for them to maintain one with their personalities always clashing would be more than a challenge for both egos. But if any relationship had the chance to overcome that it would be theirs, wouldn't it? Aren't they clearly meant for each other? Almost everyone he knew told him so. Were they really the exception to all other romances?… He wasn't 100% sure. This seemed like a case of "if you love someone you have to set them free." She had her own goals, her own aspirations, and would become a great adult on her own terms. And he needed to do the same. He had to grow into his own… But what if they were supposed to do it together instead? Is there such a thing as the universe finding ways to bring them closer together? At this point aren't they meant to stay together?…

He kept wrestling with the idea in his mind. It wasn't until he could hear her footsteps on the pavement and her car door shut that he got up. Her car began to pull out of the driveway. He leaned his head and watched as long as he could till she was completely out of sight. That was the last view of her he would see with his own two eyes. He wanted to remember it. And… There it was. She was gone. It was 7:45. He now had 75 minutes until he launched off the planet.

The sound of utensils hitting the kitchen floor got his attention. He was supposed to be alone in the house.

Right away he went downstairs to check it out. He could hear eggs running over the stove. His mom clearly was home. Sure enough when he entered the kitchen there she was cooking for the first time in a very long time.

"Good morning, sweetie." She greeted Jimmy with a smile.

"Morning." He said perplexed. "Don't you have work?"

She battered a bowl of dough. "I called in sick. I know I shouldn't lie. But it's not everyday your son goes off traveling around the galaxy, coming back Einstein knows when. The least I could do is make you breakfast before you go. Have a seat."

He did. She made him pancakes, some eggs, and toast. She brought two plates to the table and ate alongside him. He thanked her. Then not one word was said as they ate. Of course it was on both their minds but he had been saying goodbye for a month now. Yet she held a smile, trying to make this moment happy and perfect. Yet it was far more bittersweet. It had been a long time since he tasted his mom's cooking. All sorts of familiar sensations came back like a wave of nostalgia (as if he didn't have enough of those already). He really was going to miss home and all the little things that made his life what it was.

When he was finished he got up and set the plate aside. "Thank you. That was great." He said politely.

Judy got up before finishing her breakfast. She went to the fridge and pulled out a paper lunch bag with a can of Purple Flurp. Jimmy instantly laughed at the sight.

"I made you lunch for your trip." She handed him the bag.

"Jeez mom, it's not like I'm in 5th grade still."

"Well I don't want you to not have anything to eat-"

"I'm just messing around mom. It's nice…" He smiled. "Thank you. Really."

Just then she immediately hugged him in warm embrace. He embraced her back as she held on tight, caressing her back. After hugging for a while attempted to lightly release to start breaking off the hug but she just squeezed tighter. He reverted back to tight embrace.

"You be safe, okay?" She said nearly sobbing.

"I'll be fine, mom."

"Message me every day, okay?"

"Well with it being tough to get a signal I-"

"Just lie to me, Jimmy!"

He chuckled. "Okay, every day mom. I'll let you know what's happening every day."

She let him go and had one last look to savor the moment.

Jimmy looked back at her with a smile. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

Judy nodded.

* * *

He stood outside giving the clubhouse one last look. He remembered back when he built it with his dad. It wasn't till later he added the lab after a dare from Cindy in the 3rd grade. He smiled at the memory. It was all built in spite but a lot of good came from it.

He held a strand of hair up to the scanner one last time.

He rode the elevator down one last time.

When he reached the floor he had his spacegear prepared. Every step closer to take off he was filled with more and more doubts. He didn't know if he was doing the right thing? He changed into his gear and walked aboard the new vessel.

"Morning kid. You ready?" Jerry said more friendly than usual. The lack of sarcasm was noted by Jimmy. But with such a significant moment in both their lives counting down it was perfectly understandable. It proved Jerry wasn't some emotionless douche.

Not entirely anyway.

"Yeah." Jimmy said dryly.

"Tough saying goodbye?" Jerry asked, catching on to his tone."

Jimmy sighed. "I'm just not sure I'm doing the right thing."

Just like that the empathetic side of Jerry disappeared. "OH COME ON!" He exclaimed reverting back to his own unique personality. "Seriously? You're gonna say this 25 minutes before launch?"

"I'm going-"

"No! No, kid! No! What did I tell you? I don't want to go with you if you're gonna be whiny like this."

"I'm going. I decided a long time ago."

"Yeah, sure. Is it 95% or 75% decided? I'm not going with you unless you're 100%."

"I'm 100%-"

"Don't lie to me, kid. I'll beat the crap out of you if you start lying and you know I can do it."

"I'm going! I didn't waste my time to build this ship just to not go!-"

"Bullshit! You've been mopey over that girl the entire time I was building this thing. Don't deny it. You shirked your responsibilities just to be with her-"

"FINE!" Jimmy exploded. "I'm gonna miss her. I told her that. I told my friends that. Everyone already knows that. Do I have to tell you too?"

"And if you weren't using this trip as an excuse you would be with her?"

"YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT!"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU EVEN LEAVING?"

Jimmy froze then sighed in frustration. "I don't need this now, let's get going."

"You gotta be kidding me?"

"Hey, for once can you not be an asshole for no reason?"

"I planned an expedition with one of the smartest humans on the planet and he doesn't even know what he's doing."

Jimmy exploded. "I have to go!… I can't settle on being here. What reason do you want? I can't stand watching powerful people make stupid decisions that set humanity back. I hate that I was always trying to get the approval of people who don't care about what I do. Every time I built something, even when it worked, all people did was criticize me. I've always had to apologize for being smart and I hate that. And when someone values my intellect it's only because they want to use me for their own agenda… I don't have to worry about any of that stuff now because I'm rich, but I'd still be surrounded by people who are looking for reasons to hate me. Especially now that I'm loaded."

"Jeez kid, you wait to vent all this now? How convenient."

"You're the one being critical. What reason for leaving do you want me to give you? Out there I have to believe there's something better for me. Or maybe I might hate it and come back home. I don't know. It's a gamble, Jerry. I don't know for sure what I want. But I've never really connected closely with anyone here that I saw a future with except Cindy... I have a lot of reasons to go and I'm not gonna list them right now. But if I stayed Cindy would be the only reason why."

"And is that enough for you?"

He pondered over it. "… Shit, I don't know. It might be?"

"If it was possible you would do both?"

"Absolutely."

"But you can't, dumbass." Jimmy turned away from that stupid set up and went for the pilot chair. "So which one do you want more?" Jerry asked.

"I don't know. It's the same."

"NO. Of both options there's one that you want more than the other. Even if it's just a fraction of a difference you know you want one outcome a little more than the other." Jimmy set his gear down and thought about it. His eyes opened up a bit more. He faced Jerry. "You know which one, don't you?" Jerry said lightly smiling. Jimmy dropped his head and sighed. "Well ya got 20 minutes to let me know." Jerry stepped forward and laid a paw on Jimmy's back as he passed by, getting back to preparations. Jimmy turned away and looked at Goddard who sat there offering a look of excitement.

* * *

In the hospital hallway Sheen held onto a walker on wheels. A physical therapist was next to him, lightly holding onto the side.

Cindy came from around the corner. "Hey!" She greeted him happily. "They have you walking already?"

"Yeah." Sheen grunted with great difficulty.

The therapist locked the wheels for Sheen in front of the window. "You've gone pretty far. I think you earned a break. You want some water?"

"Please!" He said dry and out of breathe. The therapist went off. Sheen was struggling to hold himself up. "A break? And she doesn't even let me sit down?"

"There's a chair behind. I can help-"

"No. No, don't worry about it. It's actually even more painful to get back up."

"Okay."

"3 months and all my muscles stop working. When they told me I'd have to learn how to walk again I thought it would be a piece of cake." Sheen readjusted his arms into a standing position he was comfortable in.

"You want to me to put you against the wall?"

"Yeah, that'd be better."

Cindy unlocked the walker. Sheen almost fell forward but Cindy caught him. She helped him walk backwards to lean against the wall and locked the walker so he's standing comfortably.

"This is humiliating."

"Hey, it happens to people. You don't have anything to be ashamed of."

"I know... It's just not easy. I'm always tired and thirsty. I can't walk on my own. I can't even control it when I go to the bathroom." He notices Cindy looking a away from that comment. "Sorry, I know that's gross."

"Don't be. I work in here. I've helped with worse."

"I guess I should feel better because of it." He said clearly down.

"Hey, you're doing great. Really. You've only been up a day and you started walking already. Most people take 3-5 days to get up."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're fine. You'll be up on you feet in no time."

A faint boom went off as the building shook a little bit. They looked out the window and could see a puff of smoke in the distance. Emerging from it was a rocket, flying straight up in the sky.

"There he goes." Sheen responds sadly.

"Yeah." Cindy said a little bitter.

"I'm gonna miss him."

Cindy placed an arm around Sheen's shoulder. "Me too."

* * *

Once her shift ended at 6pm, a little later than normal, she drove back home like it was a normal day. Nothing had the appearance of change. She hadn't thought about Jimmy since she saw the launch. It wasn't until she pulled up in her driveway and looked at her rearview mirror that the reality of Jimmy's departure set on her. She got out of her car and saw a trash truck carrying chunks of wood from the backyard. She then looked up at the window across the street. The window she had known so well in her childhood. It seemed strange to think that the person who lived in that room was now gone.

The truck drove aways and she was left alone on the street. Curiosity got the best of her as she went to the backyard.

She saw bunch of pieces of broken wood scattered around. There was a hole where the clubhouse used to be. Clearly the launch left a mess. She went over to look at the hole. That spot where the lab had once been was empty. There was still the hangar bridge in sight but everything else was gone. Never had she seen the backyard without the clubhouse. It was something that was always there. Now it was just a distant memory. Along with the lab. Along with Jimmy. Things were really changing. It hurt.

BARK BARK!

A familiar sound coming from behind her. She turned her head to see the mechanical canine happily approaching her.

"Goddard? What're you doing here?"

The mechanical canine opened his monitor. There was a frozen image of Jimmy, wearing his spacesuit all ready to go. She bent down to get a better look. The image unfroze and the video played.

_"Hey. Uh... So I guess at this moment I'm in outer space and you're watching this. I'm minutes away from leaving and... Look, I'm glad you said what you did last night. I hope you didn't hide anything to make it easier on me… Or maybe I'm the only one that still has a lot of things floating in my mind. Anyway... I wasn't 100% sure of what I wanted to say last night so I'm going to try to say everything now. But I have to get it out there and say... I love you. As corny as it is I really do. I always loved you. It's killing me to leave right now because I really want to go out with you and it's stupid I can't say it to your face…" _He sighed. _"That's the truth, but I also really want to go. And clearly I'm choosing this over being with you... And… I don't know, I'm really scared that I'm making a huge mistake. I know you said you wouldn't give me the chance but I feel like I'm letting you down by leaving... Sorry... I'm not perfect. I try to be but I'm a mess... I barely slept last night. I walked around town. Got a good look at everything one last time. It's really weird knowing I might not come back. Or I still might. I plan to I guess. I want to see everybody again but... I'm messing this up and I don't have time to start over. The point is as I was walking I realized there really isn't anything for me here anymore. I don't just mean town but the planet. I've thought this before but now I really feel it's true. I've done everything I could and there's nothing left for me to try. And I don't want to sound corny, I know this is stupid but the only reason I would stay would be to be with you and I can't do that because... Well, I think I already said it. I'm going to miss you so much. There isn't a metaphor on Earth that can make it clear just how much I will miss you... I want to stay with you. And maybe even marry you and have kids. But then what if I get too busy working that I spend less time around you. And what if I resent you because I regret not going on this trip. And what if I'm like my dad and I cheat on you like he did to my mom and you divorce me because you don't take crap from anybody... I don't want to put you through that… Honestly, I'm more comfortable with missing you instead of hurting you... I'm not going to ask you to wait for me or anything stupid like that. I don't even know when I'll be back... But if you marry someone else that's great! And if you have kids I hope to meet them. I... This video is a total failure, Goddard. I can't let her watch this."_

_"Hey kid!" _Jerry yelled through Jimmy's watch. _"Take off is in 5 minutes. What are you doing?"_

_"I'll be right there." _Jimmy answered through his watch. He looked back at the camera. _"I'm sorry if all that sounded pretentious. But I have to get going. Before I do that I want to give you Goddard." _The camera shakes as Goddard whines. _"Hey boy, it's okay-"_

The recording stops and switches over to a different recording. _"Well I calmed him down but... Yeah, I'm giving him to you. Just till I come back, right boy." _Goddard barks happily. The camera jitters a little. Jimmy smiles. _"Alright. It was the best compromise I could make... I'll be fine. I have one furry sidekick so it'll be okay. But with Goddard it'll be easier to send messages if you want to talk to me. And I know he'll always keep you safe… I'll still be on Facebook and I have my email, but I don't know if I'll always be able to connect myself to the internet so if you want to talk Goddard's your best bet."_

Jimmy held a smile. That light smile started to fade as he looked more serious.

_"I don't think I've said everything I wanted to. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to with you. You drive me crazy so much that I..." _Jimmy sighs. _"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you with this." _Cindy's eyes opened with confusion. _"If you don't want Goddard then you can send him back to my mom. I hope you don't. but... I guess all I really wanted to say was that I love you... And I'll miss you... I'm sorry I couldn't say it to your face. Even if you're not showing it I can't help but feel like I'm letting you down. But I need to do this and you know that. I just hope things work out for you regardless of what happens. Message me when you can. Or if you even want to. I hope that you-"_

_"KID, WE HAVE LESS THAN 2 MINUTES! GET YOUR BUTT UP HERE!"_

_"Coming." _Jimmy spoke into his wrist. He got up. _"Okay Goddard, you have to go up to this house and get away from-"_

The video cut to static.

As she processed it all the mechanical canine closed his screen and nuzzled up under her arm to comfort her. She sat, softly rubbing her thumb against his muzzle.

She couldn't believe it that he thought she would be bothered by having Goddard. She knew she was intimidating, but it hurt to think Jimmy thought that about her. But he also told the truth and it made her feel better to know the same feelings were reciprocated. She was absolutely broken hearted that he was gone. Yet she smiled. She looked up at the developing night sky and smiled, knowing that he was going where he needed to be.

* * *

Jerry took his seat where the computer used to be. It now had glass windows in place. Jimmy took the seat next to him, still conflicted over his decision.

Jerry gave him a friendly smile. "Hey kid, for all you know you might come back and see her again. Find that she's still single." Jimmy looked at him still holding that friendly smile. It was not something he was used to seeing from the mouse but it was comforting. "You might even marry, pick her up and bring her along at some point."

Jimmy looked back perplexed by Jerry's odd attitude. "When did you get so sentimental?"

Jerry sighed and chuckled a bit. "You know, I'm sure you think I give you a hard time because I'm a sarcastic asshole of a rodent, and that's probably got a lot to do with someone injecting steroids into my head." He looked at Jimmy more seriously at that last note. "Doesn't mean I don't care."

"Zero gravity made you sensitive?" Jimmy quipped.

Jerry looked back at him seriously. "I'm only going to say this once. For the last 3 months I've had nobody in my life but you... You're the only family I have... And we're gonna be out here for a long time so you better get used to having me around."

Jerry went back to the controls. Jimmy smiled a little.

"Okay!" Jerry began excited. "Time to fire up at top speed bail out of this solar system."

"Wait a minute." Jimmy got up from his seat. "I wanna go for a walk."

"Are you kidding?" Jerry groaned. "Come on, I want to get out of this hole."

"Just 15 minutes. I want to look at it one last time." Jimmy left the cockpit

"You have 10 minutes." Jerry yelled as the door closed behind Jimmy.

Jimmy suited up in full. He tethered himself to the door before opening it. He went outside and looked at the Earth one last time. He could still see Texas. The sun fully setting right now. He thought about what everyone in Retroville was doing at that moment. It was incredible to think that just one small speck of the planet was where he was from. There were so many other places around that globe. So many other people. Yet this one blu planet was merely a tiny part of the cosmos.

He turned around, putting the Earth to his back and looked ahead. Nothing out there but stars. Many other worlds that they had yet to discover. Other civilizations they had yet to meet. He continued to look at the potential worlds that he would make contact with as a representative of his planet. He'd encountered some before, that was for sure. But there were so many other civilizations that the human race had yet to meet. They would one day become allies and improve the universe from there.

What the human and the mouse were doing was one smell step for man, but one giant leap _For All Mankind_… well, not just man. Earthkind to be more appropriate.

But for Jimmy... for himself… hopefully he would find what he was looking for.

* * *

"For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess I'm suddenly having a hard time leaving it...

Of course they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star.

Maybe I'm not leaving... Maybe I'm going home."

-Vincent Freeman

* * *

**The End**

* * *

BECAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE ASKED: Yes, there are in fact notes and outlines written that go over the basics of what happens after this story. There is an explanation of what happens after. I don't know if it's got a long form story behind it that demands to be read. I wouldn't want to write a follow up if it wasn't as good or better than this story. The notes could be enough for an epilogue, but then that epilogue would end with a cliffhanger and I know that would bring up even more questions. I know what happens to these characters in this JN world I've written them in. I might write 2 or 3 short 15-20,000 word followups that give a little bit.

It's really great to hear that some of you are interested. But I don't want to just throw that information out there. I don't want to reveal anything unless there's a good story behind it. If I don't have that then short stories might be the way to go. They would hopefully be entertaining reads, but I don't think they would hold a candle to the material written in this story. It would just be cool little asides and moments that explain what happened after. I might write these someday. If the demand is overwhelming I'll strongly consider it. But for now it's best to leave fans of this story wanting more. I don't do this to be mean, but to have people wanting more is one of the best compliments a storyteller can get. I definitely don't want to suck this well dry.


End file.
